Raab and Hammond at odds over forecasts

Dominic Raab has risked a Cabinet row with Philip Hammond after questioning the worth of economic forecasts about Brexit, days after the Chancellor warned that no deal could cause major damage.

The Brexit Secretary said that some projections needed to be treated with “a measure of caution”, adding that GDP estimates for 2019 “have been revised up.

Mr Hammond on Thursday was accused of launching a “dodgy Project Fear” when he suggested that GDP could fall and borrowing could be around £80 billion a year higher by 2033/34 under a scenario in which Britain resorted to World Trade Organisation (WTO) terms after a no-deal Brexit. Without naming Mr Hammond, Mr Raab told a Sunday newspaper: “I’m always chary of any forecast because most of them have been proved to be wrong.”

The newspaper also claimed that the Cabinet will meet to discuss no-deal Brexit preparations over fears that a row between Brexiteers and Remainers was undermining negotiations with Brussels.

Mr Hammond’s comments in a letter to Conservative MP Nicky Morgan, chairwoman of the Treasury Select Committee, emerged hours after Mr Raab had attempted to play down the likelihood of a no-deal Brexit while outlining the impact of such a scenario via a series of technical papers.