Brexit "an enormous economic problem"

Image copyright

Getty Images

Former prime minister Tony Blair has said leaving the EU would create “an enormous economic problem” following any Brexit vote on 23 June.

And an online survey of economists for The Observer showed 88% of those who responded believed that EU withdrawal would be damaging for the UK economy.

There was a 17% response rate to the survey, from 639 economists.

The Vote Leave campaign said economists had been wrong in the past about whether the UK should join the euro.

“There was a cosy consensus among economists supporting Britain scrapping the pound 15 years ago… they were wrong then and they are wrong now,” Matthew Elliott, chief executive of Vote Leave, said in a statement.

‘Living standards’

Speaking on the BBC One Marr Show, former Labour leader Mr Blair, a Remain supporter, said “if we vote to leave we will suffer an immediate shock to our economy” and “years of uncertainty”.

He said this was not a hypothetical risk but “something you will see directly in people’s jobs and living standards” and in the confidence of business to trade.

Trade and economy

The debate

• About half of UK trade is conducted with the EU


• The EU single market allows the free movement of goods, services, capital and workers


• Trade negotiations with other parts of the world are conducted by the EU, not individual member states

Leave

• UK companies would be freed from the burden of EU regulation


• Trade with EU countries would continue because we import more from them than we export to them


• Britain would be able to negotiate its own trade deals with other countries

Remain

• Brexit would cause an economic shock and growth would be slower


• As a share of exports Britain is more dependent on the rest of the EU than they are on us


• The UK would still have to apply EU rules to retain access to the single market

EU referendum issues guide: Explore the arguments

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36027205

Explore all the issues

Choose an issue:

What both sides are saying

All issues

Main views

Share this page

EU referendum issues guide

What the leave and remain sides are saying in the #EUref campaign

Meanwhile, according to those economists who replied to the Ipsos-Mori poll for The Observer, leaving the EU single market would damage Britain’s growth prospects over the next five years.

Britain Stronger in Europe campaign director Will Straw said: “This is the final nail in the coffin of the Leave campaign’s economic credibility.

“It is becoming clear that leaving is a risk we simply cannot afford to take.”

Labour’s shadow home secretary Andy Burnham also told Sky News that the UK would be damaged by leaving the EU.

‘Doom-laden’

However, Leave campaigners argue the UK would be freed from the cost of regulation and red tape imposed by Brussels if it left the EU.

They also say it would able to negotiate its own trade deals.

In The Sun newspaper on Saturday pro-Brexit government minister Priti Patel criticised Treasury forecasting of what would happen after a withdrawal from the EU, calling it “doom-laden propaganda”.

All copyrights for this article are reserved to BBC News

Brexit "an enormous economic problem"
http://latiendadejm.com/blog/brexit-an-enormous-economic-problem/

BBC News, Noticias | #BBCNews #Noticias | La tienda de JM