Each British household is more than £900 worse off after the vote to leave the EU, according to the Governor of the Bank of England. This was announced by Mark Carney during comments he gave to the Treasury Select Committee.
These comments risk a renewed confrontation with senior Brexit supporters in the government.
Carney said that when one compares the current state of household finances with forecasts made by the Bank before the referendum household incomes were now significantly lower than expected.
“Real household incomes are about £900 per household lower than we forecast in May of 2016, which is a lot of money,” he said, referring to the total lost growth for incomes in the two years since the 2016 referendum.
When reporting the meeting The Guardian quoted Carney also saying that the economy was 2% smaller than forecast before the EU referendum, despite the strength of the global economy and the Bank’s emergency cut in interest rates after the Brexit vote.
That was “a reasonable difference” to forecasts for the economy made in May 2016, he added.
The governor’s comments provoked angry reactions from Brexit supporters, who have previously been critical of Carney and his forecasting record.
