Now Osborne says Brexit will cost pensioners up to £32,000

GEORGE Osborne was accused of ‘outrageous’ scaremongering last night after suggesting pensioners would lose up to £32,000 each if Britain votes for Brexit.

A Treasury analysis suggests a vote to leave the EU would lead to rising inflation, turmoil in financial markets and plummeting asset prices, hitting savings and investments.

Pensioners with average wealth would lose between £18,000 and £32,000, it claims, with assets totalling £300billion destroyed.

The warning is the latest in a series of doom-mongering predictions from pro-EU ministers.

The Prime Minister and Chancellor have, in recent months, claimed Brexit could lead to war, genocide, recession, migrant camps in Kent, 800,000 job losses, house price collapse, strat- ospheric rises in clothing and food prices and the end of cheap holidays.

Earlier this week David Cameron warned older Britons that Brexit could put state pensions at risk and lead to their foreign carers returning home.

Last night Mr Osborne released figures speculating that the total assets held by over-65s would drop by £170billion in the event of a moderate shock to the economy following Brexit, and £300billion in the case of a ‘severe’ shock.

He said: ‘Much of the debate so far has focused on the potential economic fallout of a vote for Leave for those now in work, in terms of the impact on their jobs. But it’s important that pensioners understand what’s at stake for them too on June 23.’

Former work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith dismissed the warnings as a ‘cynical’ scare story, saying there was no evidence Brexit would drive up inflation or spark a collapse in asset prices.

He said: ‘This is an utterly outrageous attempt by the Government to do down people’s pensions and is little more than a cynical attempt to distract from the Government’s broken promises on immigration. The biggest threat to British pensions is the European Commission’s proposals to undermine occupational pensions which the Government themselves have described as “damaging and reckless”.

‘Meanwhile tax proposals from Eurozone countries will wipe billions off British assets hitting pension funds hardest. These are measures that Britain is powerless to stop in the EU.’

The Treasury warns higher inflation would mean the real value of the basic state pension being eroded for 12million pensioners. If inflation rose 2.5 per cent, real incomes would fall by between £137 and £142 a year, it says. Brexit could also hit the future wealth of those in their 50s hoping to retire around 2030, the figures suggest.

An average earner in this age group putting 8 per cent of their salary into a pension could be £3,800 worse off in 2030 – or £5,800 in the event of a severe economic shock. Pensions minister Ros Altmann said: ‘Millions of current pensioners would feel the impact of voting to leave the EU through inflation eroding their pensions as consumer prices rise and as volatility in financial markets hit their hard-earned pension savings, as well as suffering a fall in the value of their assets, including house prices.

‘It would put all the hard work we’ve done to reform and improve pensions in jeopardy, in a self- defeating, pointless and unnecessary way.

‘Britain has done brilliantly being in Europe.’

Meanwhile, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will today warn that Brexit could put ‘parks, beaches and fresh air at risk’.

Joining forces with his predecessor, Ed Miliband, he will claim staying in the EU is ‘vital’ to combat climate change.

This is outrageous ... little more than a cynical attempt to distract from the Government’s broken promises on immigration

Iain Duncan Smith