Ex-Bank of England boss Mervyn King slams George Osborne’s ‘scaremongering’ during EU Referendum
Former governor says Chancellor's Brexit Budget threat was a new low
FORMER Bank of England governor Mervyn King lashed out at the Chancellor yesterday — accusing him of treating voters like “idiots”.
He broke cover to criticise the Government for setting the tone of “the most dispiriting campaign” of his lifetime.
Lord King also described George Osborne’s threat to hit Britain with £30billion of tax hikes or spending cuts in an emergency Brexit Budget as the “nadir of exaggeration”.
He said it left him “baffled” given that it would be impossible to launch a Budget based on what may happen in five, ten or 15 years.
related stories
His blast came just hours after the Chancellor dropped the idea and said any Budget “readjustment” would now take place as normal in the Autumn Statement — most likely in November.
While Lord King admitted there was a “great deal of uncertainty” over the economic fallout of a Brexit vote during the campaign, he said the Treasury went “way beyond that” with claims that Brits would see their incomes fall by £4,300.
He added: “I was travelling around the UK a lot at that time and I was struck by how many people said to me they didn’t like the scaremongering tactics. They didn’t like to be told that if they were to vote to leave they would be idiots.
“If you say to someone, ‘You are an idiot if you don’t agree with me’, then you are not likely to bring them in your direction.
“It would have been enough to say there would be a great deal of uncertainty, but they went way beyond that, using precise numbers to say how much our living standards might fall.”
The former Bank of England boss refused to give any interviews about Brexit in the run up to the referendum, apart from saying he doubted a Leave vote would make any “dramatic difference” to the economy.
I don’t think people should be particularly worried. Markets move up, markets move down.
Mervyn King
On Monday he reiterated his view that there is no need to panic despite the markets meltdown.
He said that in years to come people would likely look back and see it was “a bit of a fuss about nothing”.
He told the BBC: “I don’t think people should be particularly worried. Markets move up, markets move down.
“We don’t yet know where they will find their level. The whole aspect of volatility is that there is a trial and error process going on before markets discover what the right level of stock markets and exchange rates are.
“What we need is a bit of calm now, there’s no reason for any of us to panic.”
Earlier on Monday, in his first public appearance since the bombshell Brexit verdict, Mr Osborne insisted Britain was in a strong economic position.
But he stood by his Project Fear warning that the historic Out vote would damage the economy.
In a speech designed to soothe the markets, he said: “I don’t resile from any of the concerns I expressed during the campaign.
“I said that we had to fix the roof so that we were prepared for whatever the future held. Thank goodness we did.”
Speaking two weeks ago, the Chancellor had warned a Brexit Budget would be needed within two months of a vote to leave.
He said that the only thing worse would be “not passing a Budget and sending the economy into a tailspin”.
On Tuesday, Business Secretary Sajid Javid will step up efforts to shore up business confidence by hosting a roundtable with leaders from Britain’s largest trade sectors.
Mr Javid, who had backed the Remain campaign, said on Monday night: “My objective now is to ensure that the negotiation of our future relationship with the EU is carried out in the interests of UK companies, investors and workers.”
Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368