THE warning by Bank of England Governor Mark Carney that Brexit could plunge Britain into a new recession was a "very clear message" of the dangers of voting to leave the European Union, David Cameron has insisted.
George Osborne also seized on the alarm from Threadneedle Street - that an exit vote would risk depressing growth, increasing inflation and unemployment and causing a fall in the pound - describing it as a “very big moment” in the In-Out debate.
READ MORE: Tory civil strife over EU intensifies after Cameron warns Brexit could increase risk of war
“We have a clear and unequivocal warning, not just from the Governor of the Bank of England but also in the collective judgement of the Monetary Policy Committee(MPC), that a vote to leave would mean both materially lower growth and notably higher inflation,” said the Chancellor.
But Leave campaigners denounced Mr Carney’s intervention; one source described it as “hysterical”. Jacob Rees Mogg, the Conservative backbencher, called on the Governor to resign, saying: “Suggesting sterling will fall sharply is simply not what responsible central bankers do."
Lord Lamont, the former Conservative Chancellor and a spokesman for Vote Leave, said: "The Governor should be careful that he doesn't cause a crisis. If his unwise words become self-fulfilling, the responsibility will be his and his alone.”
The MPC’s report said Brexit could "materially" hit UK growth, cause the pound to fall sharply and inflation to spike while the economy would suffer as households and businesses reined in spending.
At the anti-corruption summit in London, Mr Cameron stressed how the Governor and MPC were "totally independent” whose job was to tell it “like it is; to warn of risks in the economy. They couldn't be more clear; there is a risk and that is a very clear message".
READ MORE: Iain Macwhirter: Cameron should have known not to mention the war in Brexit debate
Earlier, prominent Brexit backer, stockbroker Peter Hargreaves, said the spur provided by uncertainties outside the EU would be "fantastic" and represented the “biggest stimulus to get our butts in gear that we have ever had".
The PM seized on these comments too, saying: "Insecurity might be fantastic if you are a hedge fund manager. Insecurity is not fantastic if you are a car worker or a farmer or a student setting out in your life wondering what your career is going to hold. It is not fantastic if you are looking for a job or trying to feed your family.”
Stressing how this statement and that of the MPC put the whole debate in a very light, he said: "Here is the Leave campaign celebrating insecurity and putting our economy at risk and here is the MPC of our independent Bank of England warning of the risk of recession. That's why the right answer is for Britain to stay in a reformed EU."
Mr Carney's intervention came as the EU referendum debate was dominated by furious rows over plans for live TV showdowns between the rival camps ahead of the June 23 poll.
Vote Leave accused ITV of joining the In campaign after it chose to pitch Mr Cameron against Ukip leader Nigel Farage rather than a Eurosceptic Tory like Boris Johnson or Michael Gove, in a June 7 broadcast.
Pro-Brexit Culture secretary John Whittingdale said it was "extraordinary" ITV had not chosen a representative of the official Leave campaign to take on the PM.
READ MORE: Prime Minister David Cameron: Brexit would hamper fight against Islamic State and put peace at risk
Mr Cameron confirmed he did not want a “blue on blue” contest, saying the debate should not be presented as "simply an argument between Conservatives".
Meantime, an official report said that migrants coming to Britain for short periods were the main driver behind a gap in statistics that had fuelled claims EU immigration had been under-estimated. Experts found that people who stayed in the country for between a month and a year "largely account" for recent differences between measures of long-term international migration and National Insurance numbers given to EU nationals.
Scrutiny has centred on figures showing in the year to September just under 655,000 NI numbers - which are needed to work in the UK - were registered to EU citizens yet the main immigration figures indicated 257,000 people arrived from the bloc in the same period.
The UK Government said the Office for National Statistics report was a "clear endorsement" of the validity of migration figures but Brexit campaigners claimed the scale and impact of immigration from the EU was "out of control".
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