DHAKA: Britain’s national income could be 6% smaller by 2030 if the UK leaves the European Union, a major report by the Treasury will say.

The 200-page report says the size of the cut in gross domestic product would be the equivalent of about £4,300 a year for every household.

Trade barriers will be higher - hitting exports - and investment will be lower both within the UK and from abroad after an EU exit, the report argues.

Vote Leave dismissed it as ‘erroneous’, reports the BBC.

Many believe that businesses will move at least part of their operations to the continent of Europe to be within the EU single market.

Borrowing costs for the government could also rise as investors demand higher repayments for supporting the UK’s debts as the economy weakens.

The report, being published by Chancellor George Osborne later, is likely to spark controversy.

I am told it has taken months to prepare and those that support Britain leaving the EU are likely to attack it as being government-sponsored ‘propaganda’.

Vote Leave immediately dismissed the report as ‘just the latest erroneous pro-EU economic assessment published by the government over the last 40 years’.

But Treasury sources insisted the report was a ‘sober assessment’.

BDST: 2050 HRS, APR 18, 2016
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