The public is seeing through Project Fear

IS ‘Project Fear’ – the Downing Street-inspired campaign to terrify British voters into believing that leaving the EU would be an unmitigated catastrophe – beginning to backfire?

Last week, the rhetoric of the remain camp verged on the hysterical, with three cabinet ministers wheeled out in quick succession to deliver prophesies of doom. health Secretary Jeremy hunt said Brexit would lead to the NHS being starved of cash and energy Secretary Amber rudd that it would cause power bills to soar – creating an ‘electric shock’ to consumers and industry alike.

Most disgracefully of all, education Secretary Nicky Morgan warned the older generation that if they voted to leave, they would ‘devastate’ the life chances of their children and grandchildren.

Yet for all this hyperbole the latest opinion polling shows the Leave campaign moving ahead. True, polls can be capricious (as the general election so starkly proved) but isn’t it just possible the public is becoming heartily sick of this cynical scaremongering?

Offering a very different message in this paper today is Andrea Leadsom, a former Treasury minister and successful businesswoman in her own right. She writes that if we ignore the doom-mongers and free ourselves from the shackles of Brussels ‘our best days lie ahead of us’.

She articulates what millions already know – that unfettered migration from within the Eu has put enormous strain on schools, the Nhs, jobs and housing and she believes that if we leave, wages will rise and unemployment will fall without making Britain any less attractive to foreign trade and investment.

Mrs Leadsom tells us we should have confidence in this country’s great advantages and give back ‘the gift of sovereignty’ to future generations.

What a refreshing change this confident, optimistic analysis makes to the relentless negativity, paranoia and dodgy statistics of Project Fear.

Is it any wonder Britain seems to be edging ever closer to the Eu exit door?