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Ms Patel accused the traditionally pro-Europe Treasury – lead by Chancellor Philip Hammond – of “co-opting” Bank of England Governor Mark Carney to spread gloomy economic predictions which she said amounted to “irresponsible scaremongering”.
In a column in The Sunday Telegraph, Ms Patel, who served as Secretary of State for International Development from 2016 to 2017, called on Prime Minister Theresa May’s administration to “believe in Britain and the tremendous opportunities that lie ahead.”
The 2016 Remain campaign had been characterised by downbeat warnings about the loss of 800,000 in the event of a Leave vote, coupled with a six percent drop in GDP – claims which had been proven false, Ms Patel wrote.
In fact, she said the UK had record employment levels, £100 billion in exports to the United States, and an economy worth in excess of £2 trillion.
She added: “Our friends at the Treasury have doubled up, and co-opted Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, to bolster this message with wild predictions that house prices will fall by a third – while interest rates will soar.”
Brexiteer Ms Patel, who campaigned for Leave during the referendum, described the doomsday proclamations as “laughable”, and an “extreme scenario” which was in fact part of the 2017 Bank of England stress test aimed at assessing whether banks could cope with a massive financial shock.
She added: “To present this as the most likely scenario for a no deal Brexit amounts to irresponsible scaremongering that is untrue.”
Ms Patel sought to remind Mrs May of her responsibility to “deliver a better future” and stand by the referendum result.
However, she added: “All we are seeing is that they want to do a deal that fails to deliver on the referendum and frighten us into accepting a deal that is bad for Britain.”
Looking ahead to next week, Ms Patel said the forthcoming summit of EU leaders in Salzburg, Austria represented an opportunity for Mrs May and her colleagues “to seek an ambitious free trade deal with the EU” which secured a “lasting and positive partnership with Europe” – while allowing Britain to “take back control”.
She said: “It is time for the Government to knock off the tired old Project Fear rhetoric.
“We are a global trading power and the sixth largest economy in the world.
“For centuries our wealth has come from our ambition, entrepreneurial skills and global reach.
“We can be a free and independent country and will prosper if given a chance.
“Now is the time to show leadership, believe in Britain and make the most of the opportunities that lie ahead.”
Ms Patel’s attack on factions within her own party echoed comments by Julian Jessop, chief economist and head of the Brexit unit at the Institute of Economic Affairs think tank, earlier this month.
Mr Jessop told Express.co.uk: “Basically the soft Brexiteers want as soft a Brexit as possible, probably remaining in some sort of customs union, and the hard Brexiteers are not going to be diverted in any way.
“Number 10, the Cabinet Office and the Treasury are all keen on a soft Brexit.
“The Department of Trade and the Department for Exiting the European Union are less so.
“There are two sides here which is why we are seeing conflict.”
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