Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Today in audio: Osborne slammed over ‘absurd’ Brexit warning

George Osborne’s warning over what Brexit will cost the UK economy has dominated the headlines for much of the day. But how have the Treasury figures gone down in Westminster? Based on the number of Tory MPs queuing up to slam the Chancellor’s claims, it would seem not very well at all:

Kwasi Kwarteng said he thought the figures were ‘absurd’. He attacked the Treasury as an organisation not qualified to make predictions about economic outcomes following its failure to predict the 2008 credit crunch:

John Redwood also used the same word to describe his disdain for the warning that Brexit would cost British families £4,300. He said the predictions for what will happen in 2030 were ‘completely worthless’. He went onto say we would be ‘better off out’:

Bernard Jenkin also went on the attack, saying the civil service is being used to produce propaganda for the Government. The Eurosceptic MP suggested the Treasury wasn’t a credible source for predicting what will happen in 14 years’ time – adding that they ‘can’t even forecast next year or the next six months’:

Andrea Leadsom wasn’t happy either with the Treasury forecast, saying the ‘extraordinarily biased’ report is ‘rather surprising’:

But it wasn’t all criticism from Tory MPs, with Stephen Crabb bravely doing his best to defend the Treasury figures. He said the numbers showed Brexit would lead to a ‘massive hit’ on the UK economy:

Listen to what Fraser Nelson, Isabel Hardman and James Forsyth had to say about the Treasury figures on the Spectator Coffee House podcast:

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