Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England, has decided to make another entry into the on-going EU referendum debate. This time, he is reported to have said that the risks of leaving the EU "could possibly include a technical recession".
Now, Carney is a mate of George Osborne, the Europhile Chancellor of the Exchequer and a man who is desperate to be the next leader of the conservative Party and our next Prime Minister. Osborne is also the man who appointed Carney to his current post in 2012, making his latest intervention all the more suspect. To add fuel to the fire, David Cameron has very quickly leapt into the fray, saying that Carney's remarks amounted to a "very clear message" of the dangers of so-called BREXIT.
While Osborne and Cameron clearly welcome the Governor's words, they actually amount to almost nothing. In fact, if he was proved to be completely wrong, he could not be criticised as he's said nothing definite. His use of the words "could" and "possibly" place so much qualification on his warning as to make it worthless; qualifying his reference to a recession by prefixing it with "technical" is also clearly calculated to provide cover for him.
The question that arises is why has Carney chosen to make such a statement, hedged around as it is with so many qualifications as to make it meaningless ? The answer can only be that he's been urged to say something by his masters, those with a vested interest in keeping the UK within the EU, but has felt less than comfortable about saying what they want; accordingly, he's made what is, effectively, a non-statement. Cameron and his pals on the 'Remain' side will, no doubt make much of it, but no one should be fooled. This 'warning' is worthless and we should not be diverted from taking the only sensible course. VOTE LEAVE.
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