Well, this is going well. The leak of the government’s Brexit economic forecasts this week has led to an almighty row within the Conservative party. With Britain predicted to be worse off in all the off-the-shelf alternatives to EU membership, Remainers have claimed it as evidence that Brexit is a bad idea while Brexiteers are quick to brand it as the latest Project Fear effort.
Steve Baker – a Brexit Minister – took the unusual step on Tuesday of rubbishing the government report – and, for that matter, the government’s ability to forecast anything; ‘I am not able to name an accurate forecast and I think they are always wrong and wrong for good reasons’. As Mr Steerpike points out on Coffee House, he has a point.
Today there was a new twist when Jacob Rees-Mogg asked Baker whether he was told that the government’s recently leaked Brexit economic analysis was a weapon created by the Treasury to push for a soft Brexit.
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