It is the decimal point which really gets me. If we have a ‘no deal’ Brexit, according to Treasury forecasters, the economy will be 7.6 per cent lower in 15 years’ time than it would be if we didn’t leave the EU. What, not 7.7 per cent? It is an age-old trick: express your guesswork with a decimal point or two on the end and hope that it sounds a bit more convincing, as if a bit more science has gone into it.
But sorry, the Treasury should not be fooling anyone this time. It is politically interesting that Philip Hammond told the Today programme this morning that he thinks Theresa May’s deal will leave the UK worse-off than if we stayed in the EU – it confirms that the Chancellor’s heart is not really in Brexit at all, and undermines further May’s efforts to sell her lousy deal to MPs.
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