Treasury civil servants have been getting indignant about the suggestion by Jacob Rees-Mogg that their reports have been biased in favour of EU membership. But are they protesting too much?
As it happens we have a recent example of what a genuinely independent study by the Treasury looks like. Between 1999 and 2003, HM Treasury evaluated the five economic tests set by the government to determine whether or not the UK should join the euro. Officials drew on expertise and research from around the world in a spirit of open debate, and published the results in stages, before taking the decision. In a lecture to the Mile End Group at Queen Mary University of London in 2013, the process was described by David Ramsden, the economist who supervised the work. It is available to watch on YouTube. Later David Ramsden become chief economic adviser to HM Treasury and in 2015 he was knighted.
In 2016, the Treasury took part in the debate about membership of the EU in a very different spirit.
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