By John-paul Ford Rojas Associate City Editor For The Daily Mail
00:43 12 Feb 2024, updated 00:56 12 Feb 2024
The Bank of England has been accused of having an ‘obsession’ with Brexit, as it continues to ask companies to rate the level of ‘uncertainty’ caused by the 2016 referendum.
A monthly questionnaire sent to thousands of chief executives and finance directors continues to ask about the impact of the vote eight years ago.
But the Bank no longer seeks answers about other major issues, such as the Covid pandemic or the war in Ukraine.
One businessman who belongs to the Decision Maker Panel (DMP) told The Sunday Telegraph: ‘There are many, many things that cause uncertainty – the war in Ukraine, the Middle East, Covid – and yet Brexit is an ongoing obsession, it seems, within the Bank of England.’
He said there seemed to be a ‘concerted, anti-Brexit Project Fear narrative, a campaign within the Bank of England’.
The Bank under previous governor Mark Carney was accused in the run-up to the Brexit vote of stoking ‘Project Fear’, with claims about how economically damaging the impact of leaving the European Union would be.
The latest results of the DMP survey showed just 1 per cent found it was the largest source of uncertainty.
Meanwhile, 31 per cent said it was ‘not important’. For 19 per cent it was one of the top two or three sources of uncertainty.
John Longworth, who chaired the Vote Leave business council and now leads the Independent Business Network of family businesses, said the Bank had ‘never got over the failure of Project Fear’.
He added: ‘We are doing better than Germany and France and yet persistent gloom-mongering talks down confidence and investment.’
A spokesman for the Bank of England said: ‘This survey is just one of many sources of information that feeds into decisions on monetary policy.’