BOE's Carney hits back at Leave campaign critics

Bank of England governor Carney replies to recent criticism 16 June 2016

After many months of fending of accusations of bias BOE gov Carney has now hit back directly at those in the Leave campaign who have today warned him of intervening in the debate.

Last month, Carney said the shock of leaving the EU could cause a "technical recession" - six months of negative economic growth.

Vote Leave's Bernard Jenkin MP complained that Mr Carney was wrong to say recently that leaving the EU would cause an economic shock but now the governor has written a three-page letter in which he has criticised "numerous and substantial" mistakes.

Carney's letter, obtained by the BBC, says that what senior Bank officials considered a "threat" contained "numerous and substantial" misconceptions.

It also says that there was a "fundamental misunderstanding" about the independence of the Bank.

Concluding his letter he writes :

"In the future, I would be grateful if you would do me and my fellow independent committee members the courtesy of consulting the public record before writing letters such as that which I received on Monday."

Whatever happens next week this whole campaign has opened up a very large can of worms and getting the lid back on may take a very long time.

Full Carney response here and BBC article here