Tens of thousands of jobs could be lost in the City if the UK votes to leave the European Union, George Osborne claimed last night.
The Chancellor said that there were 285,000 British jobs in the finance sector with European links – a claim based on taxpayer-funded Treasury analysis.
And he demanded that businesses side with the Government in the scaremongering campaign against a so-called Brexit, dubbed Project Fear by critics.
Speaking at a Financial Times conference, Osborne said firms must speak up to avoid ‘a catastrophe for business, investment, jobs and incomes’.
It follows warnings by Xavier Rolet, the French boss of the London Stock Exchange, that leaving would put 100,000 jobs at risk.
Rolet has been criticised for backing a German takeover of the institution, which is 215 years old.
It follows claims by Osborne at the weekend that Brexit would cause house prices to fall and the cost of mortgages to rise.
