Former Bank of England boss Mervyn King rejects calls for a ‘soft Brexit’

A RESPECTED former Bank of England boss has launched a powerful defence of leaving the EU and rejected calls for a so called “soft Brexit”.

In contrast to his gloomy successor Mark Carney, Mervyn King said Britain needed to be be more “self-confident” about our chances outside of the economically “pretty unsuccessful” EU.

In a blistering attacking on Remoaners, Lord King, who quit Threadneedle Street in 2013, said “it's not the end of the world, and there are real opportunities that arise from the fact of Brexit that we might take."

And he rejected plans to try keep as much of Europe as possible when we leave, saying we must not “pretend we should remain in the single market,".

He added: "I think there are real question marks about whether it makes sense to remain in the customs union."

He warned: “Clearly if we do that we cannot make our own trade deals with other countries."

Speaking to the BBC, Lord King also called time on the whole European project, claiming it was facing "existential problems" over migration and the single currency.

The top economist warned that German voters will be asked at their elections next year if they wish to carry on propping up less competitive Eurozone economies like Italy, Portugal and France.

Lord King said that the Euro was flawed from the start, and that it would probably have been better to create two monetary unions for "premier league" and "second division" economies.

But he claimed it was too late to make such changes now.

The former governor said: "I think the EU is facing two existential problems and it has answers to neither of them."The first is the fate of the monetary union, which even the European Central Bank is saying is in a critical position and needs major reform.

"Secondly, migration from outside the EU into the EU and the knock-on consequences of that for the free movement of people.

"I don't think they have answers for either of those issues and it is a real crisis for the EU.”

And he warned that in face of these grave threats to the future of the EU, "British membership is irrelevant” adding “from that perspective I think they regard our decision to leave the EU as a minor irritant."