A Conservative minister has accused the Treasury of publishing a deeply “unfair and biased” analysis of the impact of Britain leaving the EU, arguing that the government ought to provide both sides of the story if it wants British voters to have a truly free vote.
Andrea Leadsom, the energy minister, told the Guardian that remain supporters were talking down the economy in an unpatriotic way.
“This Treasury report is extraordinary. For a start, it is only looking at one issue, which is their thesis on what happens if we leave. A Treasury report that is a genuine choice for the people should look at the impact if we remain,” she said.
Leadsom said she believed George Osborne had done an excellent job as chancellor, but said Monday’s report was “crystal ball gazing” by the Treasury, with the predictions for 2030 not economically sensible.
She accused remain supporters of “talking the country down” by warning that any small financial shift was down to uncertainty around the referendum – saying that could then cause economic turmoil.
“If remain campaigners insist on talking down the economy then it becomes self-fulfilling prophecy. That it is an unpatriotic thing to do.”
She added: “The chancellor has done a fantastic thing for this country he has taken use from a potentially disastrous situation in 2010 to the fastest-economy growing in the developed world.”
But she argued that the referendum was not a “free choice” if the Treasury and other government departments were so forcefully presenting one side of the story.
“The Treasury needs to tell us the impact if we remain – the use of public services, the cost of further migration. We believe the need EU to shore up the eurozone and greater political union will have a negative impact on UK. And what if they fail to solve the Greek financial crisis?”
She asked for government figures on what might happen to primary school places, given a report on Monday that suggests many parents won’t get their first choice.
Lord Lawson, the former chancellor and leading campaigner to leave the EU, said the document should be treated as political propaganda orchestrated by Osborne, despite it coming from the civil service.
Lawson, a political hero of Osborne, told the Guardian: “It is a piece of propaganda and scaremongering. It is the job of the Treasury to support the chancellor of the exchequer and I was very lucky when I was chancellor in the support I had from the Treasury. But this is basically a political propaganda exercise orchestrated by George Osborne.
“These are just conjectures. In my opinion, because of all sorts of things they don’t take into account at all – the more dynamic elements – we would be better off out. But I can’t put a number to it. The idea that putting a number on it makes it more reliable than not putting a number on it is a common nonsense. One of the things that is clearly relevant is getting rid of excessive regulation. They don’t take that into account at all.”
