King: Leave voters are not stupid racists

FORMER Bank of England Governor Mervyn King has launched a lacerating attack on the political class over Brexit – and revealed he was accused of being ‘stupid or racist’ for even considering a vote to leave the EU.

Lord King, 68, said he ‘resented’ suggestions anyone who backed Brexit must be ‘ignorant’ or ‘uneducated’.

He compared the treatment of Brexit supporters in the UK to that of backers of Donald Trump in the US – who rival Hillary Clinton said belonged in a ‘basket of deplorables’.

Lord King, who was Governor of the central bank from 2003 to 2013, said British politicians had ‘lost touch’ with ordinary voters’ concerns. He argued the disdain the Establishment showed for those worried about the EU encouraged many to vote to leave.

‘I [was] told, “But if you even contemplate voting for Brexit, you must be either ignorant, uneducated, stupid or a racist”, to which the response was, “I’m none of those, and I resent being described in those terms”,’ Lord King told an audience at the London School of Economics.

‘It was the British equivalent of the deplorables. And I think that the reaction against it did play some role [in the Brexit vote].’

Lord King, who has not revealed how he voted, said that before the referendum Westminster had for too long ‘suppressed the debate’ over Britain’s EU membership.

He said: ‘The reason why there was pressure for a referendum is that the existing party system does not give people a chance to vote on issues they really care about.

‘If there is a big issue where there isn’t a natural party division, where the parties represent different positions, then the demands for a referendum grow and grow.’

The peer largely stayed out of debate in the run-up to the vote while big businesses, politicians and international organisations launched their Project Fear campaign. But he has emerged as one of the few grandees arguing that Brexit could be a good thing.

Lord King also said Brexit and Mr Trump’s election raised questions over whether ‘the parties we have at present – in the US or the UK – actually have lost touch’, adding: ‘Why they were created in the first place no longer seems relevant, and it’s more difficult to see what each party stands for.’

He spoke out as opposition peers vowed to hijack Brexit legislation – despite warnings it could lead to the abolition of the Lords.