Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen, including George Osborne publishing the Treasury report saying Brexit would cause a recession 2.10pm BST The European Union, once it makes its mind up bureaucratically that something will happen, then they make these things happen. Once you start the ratchet, then it begins and it has just started. They have the European Union now over a barrel because all of the migrancy that was pouring across their borders into Greece in the course of the last 12 months. They are holding that in check, they are taking money from the European Union. If any day they feel the European Union is not going to have them, all they have to say (to the migrants) is ‘On your way, you can carry on going over’. The debate can sometimes seem more like a contest between Boris Johnson and George Osborne to see who will be next leader of the Conservative party. The EU debate has turned into a conversation between two white middle aged gentlemen on one side and two white middle aged gentlemen on the other. It is a very private debate. I find it very depressing that there are so few women, or people from minorities engaged in the current debate. This will not enthuse Liberal Democrat, Labour or Green voters who will all be crucial if we as a country are to vote ‘In’? If we stay in the EU, the City will be under siege. It will have to deal with wave after wave of attacks from Brussels, but will be powerless to fight back. The Square Mile will be like a Medieval castle trying to repel attacks - but with its loopholes filled in, its moat drained of water and its drawbridge down and free for the foreign invader to cross at will. 1.33pm BST ARRON BANKS, the co-chair of Leave.EU, has said that the Treasury’s forecasts are “rubbish”, and that their negative predictions could become self-fulfilling. The Osborne Treasury will pump out whatever rubbish its master asks for. Remember when Mystic Gideon was forecasting a budget surplus by 2014/15? One year on and the deficit is about £69 billion, with the national debt up to £1.5 trillion and rising fast. The man has all the predictive capability of a Magic 8-Ball. I’ve no idea why anyone in the media wastes their time indulging him. Continue reading...
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