DHAKA: The World Trade Organisation’s former director-general has warned that the UK economy risks a ‘huge blow’ if it relies on the agency’s global trading rules in the case of an EU leave vote.

The UK’s services would be particularly vulnerable, while manufacturers would face ‘appalling complexity’, Peter Sutherland told BBC Radio 5 Live.

Vote Leave campaigners argue the UK can rely on WTO rules in a Brexit vote.

A high-profile campaigner said Sutherland’s fears were misplaced.

Economists for Brexit group member Gerard Lyons, told the BBC Sutherland was just ‘drawing his own conclusions’.

‘The reality is that the UK can leave the European Union and trade freely under World Trade Organisation rules,’ said Lyons.

As a European Commissioner during the 1980s, Sutherland helped lay the groundwork for the EU Single Market free trade area in goods and services.

He was director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) between 1993-1995.

Sutherland told Wake Up to Money the WTO could not be depended upon by those who favored leaving the EU.

BDST: 1221 HRS, MAY 30, 2016
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