Treasury doom-mongers slammed for refusing to mention benefits of EU exit
PHILIP Hammond’s Treasury was yesterday accused by a former Downing Street aide of casting a shadow over Brexit hopes by being unwilling “even to mention” the gains of leaving the European Union.
And the Remain-voting Chancellor was himself accused, along with pro-Brexit rival Boris Johnson, of indulging in damaging “manoeuvres and games”.
Nick Timothy quit as Theresa May’s joint chief of staff after June’s botched election cost the Tories their majority.
However, now he is urging all ministers to get firmly behind the Prime Minister as she prepares today to set out her vision on how to get Brexit talks moving in a positive direction.
He said Mrs May hoped to set out a “serious plan to cut through the complexity”, as he acknowledged that overcoming the problems needed more than wishful thinking.
He also suggested a more positive attitude would be helpful, along the lines of Mr Johnson’s recent controversial blueprint for a “glorious Brexit”.
Mr Timothy insisted that the intricate details of an eventual deal were “important but inherently technical”.
He explained: “That, together with the Treasury’s reluctance even to mention such positives of leaving the EU as the Brexit dividend, the public money that is freed up, is why the Government has not talked positively often enough about the opportunities of Brexit.”
The Treasury under former Chancellor George Osborne was seen as the driving force behind the widely discredited Project Fear claims traded by the Remain camp in last year’s EU referendum campaign.
And ever since he took over in Number 11, Mr Hammond has been viewed by Brexiteers as the Cabinet’s arch-Remainer, pressing for a so-called “soft Brexit” which would retain maximum links with Brussels.
Mr Timothy urged ministers on both sides of the referendum divide to give Mrs May their “full support”.
He said Mr Johnson and Mr Hammond “who has also been on Brexit manoeuvres this summer, must understand that the surest route to a bad deal, or no deal at all, is to go on behaving as they are. They must stop their games now, because the stakes for Britain’s future are too high.”
Meanwhile, pro-Brexit Tory MP Kit Malthouse, who was a deputy London mayor when Mr Johnson was mayor, defended the Foreign Secretary’s recent article on Brexit, which sparked speculation that he was poised to quit.
“I don’t quite understand the furore given that his piece was largely on message and reinforcing everything the Prime Minister has said,” he told BBC Two’s Daily Politics.
“It looked to me like he was trying to inject a bit of fizz into the debate.
“One frustration we have in the Leave camp is that the overwhelming narrative about Brexit in the media has been almost entirely negative.
“We need to recapture that sense of idealism about the opportunity Brexit holds.”