‘Project Fear’ Destroyed: OECD And IMF U-Turn On Brexit Warnings, BBC Concede

The world’s ‘leading’ economic think-tank, repeatedly cited by the Chancellor to push ‘project fear’, has humiliatingly U-turned on its ‘doomsday’ Brexit warnings, predicting strong growth for the UK.

“Not a single serious economist does not think Brexit will be bad for the economy”, George Osborne famously said before the referendum, citing the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and others.

Yesterday, however, the Office for Nation Statistic (ONS) said the Brexit vote had had “no major effect” on the economy, the OECD said “markets have since stabilised”, and the IMF acknowledged the UK had “surprised on the upside” back in September.

Specifically, the OECD claimed that the UK was likely to experience 1.8 per cent growth in 2016, up from their dismal 0.1 per cent prediction made before the referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union (EU).

Two weeks ago, Conservative MPs slammed the BBC for pushing ‘project fear’. They called their reporting of the Brexit vote “an absolute disgrace” and claimed the national broadcaster had been “trying to talk this country into recession”.

However, the BBC’s reporting of the recent economic predictions represented a noticeable change of tone.

The evidence that the economy was thriving started building in August, when it was revealed the FTSE had risen by 8 per cent since the vote and UK retailers experience their strongest sales in six months.

A survey of the UK’s manufacturing industry also showed steady growth, as did Britain’s services industry, which makes up the vast majority of the economy, giving what Reuters called the “clearest sign yet” that the economy was “bouncing back”.

Numerous individual construction firms and corporations have also said they’ve experienced positive growth since the vote. However, one of the most notable statements of growth came from M&C Saatchi, the advertising agency enlisted to run the unsuccessful Remain campaign.

According to The Telegraph, the London-based ad agency posted a 14 per cent lift in sales to £100.2 million in the six months to June 30^th, while pre-tax profits surged 28 per cent to £10.7 million.

David Kershaw, the firm’s chief executive, said: “We have not seen any impact as a result of the Brexit decision, other than a positive foreign currency impact.”