The Treasury says that the cost of the UK leaving the EU would be £4,300 per household – but compared with what? We’re not told. As a cross-bencher, I naturally take very seriously the task of checking and challenging the work of the government so I put down two Parliamentary questions which eventually elicited the response that: ‘HM Treasury did not produce a forecast of how big the economy would be in 15 years’ time….’
Really? A whole report about the impact of Brexit by the year 2030, taking in hundreds of different factors – but no estimate about how big the economy would be by then? Why on earth not? The reason, it seems, is to avoid admitting that we’ll all be far better-off by 2030.
It is extraordinary that the government should not wish the public to know what difference Brexit would actually make to their pockets as it is clearly a key consideration for voters.
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