The Treasury Select Committee, of which Mark Garnier MP is a member, today has published the results of its investigation into “The economic and financial costs and benefits of the UK’s EU membership”. The report can be found here.
Committee Chair Andre Tyrie said “The arms race of ever more lurid claims and counter-claims made by both the leave and remain sides is not just confusing the public. It is impoverishing political debate. Today is the first day of the main campaign. It needs to begin with an amnesty on misleading, and at times bogus, claims. The public are thoroughly fed up with them. The public are right.”
Mark Garnier MP said: “We had a large amount of concern about two key figures from both campaigns. Vote Leave’s claim that we give £350m week flies in the face of the Office of National Statistics (ONS) official figures. The ONS’ chair has written for a third time now to ask for this to be removed due to inaccuracy. On the “In” side the Treasury’s figures were problematic for a different reason, that they had been misinterpreted and misunderstood, though were not statistically flawed. This is in incredibly important vote and we need clarity. Facts are important but claims and counterclaims put well-informed and honest debate at risk."