Bank of England chief casts doubt over Boris Johnson’s booming Brexit forecast
Mark Carney revealed that uncertainty over Brexit meant it was too early to raise the Bank’s base interest rate
FOREIGN Secretary Boris Johnson has faced a two-pronged attack on his claims that Brexit will lead to a booming Britain.
Mr Johnson had said that Britain could “have its cake and eat it” as it goes ahead with leaving the EU.
But Bank of England governor Mark Carney cast doubt on Mr Johnson’s claims in a speech at Mansion House in London.
Mr Carney said the uncertainty over Brexit meant it was too early to raise the Bank’s base interest rate.
But he said it would not be long before we saw if Brexit was a “gentle stroll along a smooth path to a land of cake and consumption”.
He also warned of sluggish wage growth and “mixed signals on consumer spending”.
Mr Johnson’s own deputy Alan Duncan also blasted his boss’s views.
He said to pretend Brexit “is going to be plain sailing is such a knuckle-headed lunacy that makes one wonder why anyone who thinks that is in politics”.
And he told documentary Brexit Means Brexit: The Unofficial Version that he could not see “any route to a pain-free exit”.