Carney hits back on Brexit charge as ‘Leave’ in poll lead

Bloomberg

Mark Carney hit back against critics who accused him of supporting the U.K.’s membership in the European Union as a new poll showed the Leave campaign holding its lead ahead of next week’s
referendum.
The Bank of England has “a duty” to report its “evidence-based judgment” to parliament and the public, the institution’s governor wrote in a letter to Conservative lawmaker and “Leave” campaigner Bernard Jenkin, according to the BBC. A phone poll by Ipsos Mori released on Thursday showed 53 percent support for leaving the EU, with 47 percent for Remain, according to the Evening Standard.
Carney’s letter was sent in response to one from Jenkin, dated June 13 and cited on the BBC website, in which the politician warns the governor about rules banning “any public comment” during a pre-referendum purdah period, which the BOE has chosen to impose voluntarily.
Jenkin’s correspondence “demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of central-bank independence,” Carney said, adding that he had not made his personal views known. “All of the public comments that I, or other bank officials, have made regarding issues related to the referendum have been limited to factors that affect the bank’s statutory responsibilities and have been entirely consistent with our remits,” his letter said, according to the BBC.
With a week to go until the Brexit vote, the exchange comes against a backdrop of an increasingly bitter debate in which the BOE has become embroiled. Writing in the Daily Telegraph newspaper, senior Conservatives Michael Howard and Iain Duncan Smith accused the BOE and the Treasury of a “woeful failure” to present “a fair and balanced analysis.” PM David Cameron, who wants the U.K. to remain in the EU, posted on Twitter that the “Leave” campaign’s criticism of the BOE was “deeply concerning.”
The central bank has pledged to respect a purdah period until the vote. Officials will probably keep the key rate at 0.5 percent, having said they will interpret economic data surrounding the vote with extra caution.
In his letter to Jenkin, Carney stressed the BOE is not officially bound by the purdah rules but has “voluntarily” agreed to them.

Retail sales Surge Boosts Hopes
for Q2 Growth
U.K. retail sales climbed more than forecast in May as warm weather boosted demand for clothing and department stores offered promotions.
The volume of goods sold in stores and online increased 0.9 percent following an upwardly revised 1.9 percent gain in April, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed on Thursday. Sales excluding auto fuel jumped 1
percent.
The figures may boost hopes that the economy averted a sharp slowdown in the second quarter, with sales between March and May rising 1.5 percent — the fastest three-monthly pace since November. It suggests consumers buoyed by record employment and rising wages are continuing to drive growth despite the upcoming Brexit referendum.
A fall of 1 percent in June would leave sales unchanged on the quarter, the ONS said. Sales may get a further boost this month from the European soccer championship in France as people upgrade televisions and spend more on food and drink, analysts say. In May, food sales rose 1.1 percent, while non-food sales gained 0.7 percent. Higher-than-normal temperatures during the month boosted sales of clothing and footwear by 4.3 percent, the biggest monthly gain since March 2014. Sales at department stores rose 1.1 percent, helped by promotions.

Financial Times backs
Britain in Europe

London / AFP

The Financial Times on Thursday said a vote for Britain to quit the EU in next week’s referendum “would seriously damage the UK economy”, as it officially endorsed remaining.
With a week to go until a knife-edge vote on Britain’s European Union future, the FT as expected came out in support of continued EU membership.
While criticising the “Remain” campaign for its “scaremongering” regarding potential financial consequences of a Brexit, it argued that the “economic costs of withdrawal are substantial”.
“A vote to withdraw would be irrevocable, a grievous blow to the post-1945 liberal world order,” it said.
The Financial Times, a global business daily, has an estimated 449,000 readers in Britain, according to the latest data from the National Readership Survey.
The Sun, which declared its support for Brexit on Tuesday, has around 4.5 million readers. The tabloid said it wanted Britons to “reassert our sovereignty” against a “relentlessly expanding German-dominated federal state”.
Most other national papers have not yet declared their support, although many are eurosceptic.
The FT argued that a choice for “Leave” would favour “a pinched nationalism” and “marginalisation”.