Rees-Mogg appears to blame Hammond over ‘biased’ forecasts

JACOB REES-MOGG has appeared to blame Chancellor Philip Hammond for “biased” Treasury forecasts which showed Britain would be worse off after Brexit whatever the outcome of negotiations.

Mr Rees-Mogg, who chairs the European Research Group of backbench Tory Leavers, stood by his claims that Treasury officials had been “fiddling the figures”, but stressed “the blame must always be with Ministers”.

He also denied suggestions he had demanded the resignation of Theresa May’s Brexit “sherpa”, Oliver Robbins, insisting: “I have never attacked an individual named civil servant”, because Ministers are in charge of policymaking.

Speaking to postgraduate journalism diploma students at the Press Association in central London, the North Somerset MP said: “There are concerns that there are some people close to Government who are trying to undermine the Government’s own policy.”

He went on: “It’s now been (made) clear we’re not having the customs union, (it) is a reiteration of policy (that) the only person who seemed to be disagreeing with was the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and he ought to read up his constitution and think more carefully about what collective responsibility means.”

Mr Rees-Mogg also dismissed former Civil Service boss Lord O’Donnell’s description of Brexiteers as “snake oil” salesmen who “don’t like the idea of experts testing your products”.

Lord O’Donnell had defended the Civil Service from Mr ReesMogg’s attacks, insisting honesty and objectivity ran through the core of civil servants “like a stick of rock”, and the forecasts would have been made in good faith. NATIONALISING THE water industry could cost taxpayers up to £90bn, a cross-party think tank has said.

Estimating the figure at the request of companies including United Utilities, Anglian Water, Severn Trent and South West Water, the Social Market Foundation (SMF) said their calculation had been published independently.

Their report found that a government which chose to buy the English water industry at fair market prices would pay between £87bn and £90bn to acquire water firms currently owned by shareholders and investors, including pension funds.

Funding such purchases with borrowed cash would add five per cent to the national debt, the think tank warned.

Considering options for nationalisation where a government forced through a sale for lower prices, the think tank said this would reduce upfront costs to taxpayers.

But the SMF said it would cost the UK economy money in the longer term as investors in other sectors either deserted Britain or demanded a risk premium to invest here.