EU referendum: Brexit would create 'DIY recession', says Cameron

David Cameron delivers a speech on the economic impact of the UK leaving the European Union at B&Q headquarters. Picture: PA

DAVID Cameron has warned that leaving the EU would be the 'self-destruct option' for Britain, as the Treasury published an analysis warning that Brexit would plunge the country into a year-long recession and cost as many as 820,000 jobs.

Speaking at the B&Q HQ in Hampshire, the Prime Minister said a Leave vote would create the world’s first “DIY recession” as the country inflicted economic harm on itself just as it was recovering from the crash of 2008.

And he said the threat to families’ financial security and the nation’s economy meant that a Remain vote was the “moral” choice in the referendum, exactly a month away on June 23.

New Treasury analysis of the short-term impact of withdrawal from the EU suggested that between 520,000 and 820,000 jobs would be lost, while house prices would fall by between 10% and 18%.Public sector borrowing would rocket by between £24 billion and £39 billion, said the report.

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But prominent Vote Leave campaigner Iain Duncan Smith said the warning “should not be believed by anyone” as it was “not an honest assessment but a deeply biased view of the future”.

Mr Cameron said Britain was now “back on the right track” after the financial crisis, and urged voters not to put that at risk.

“As the Bank of England has said and the IMF has underlined, and the Treasury has now confirmed, the shock to our economy after leaving Europe would tip the country into recession,” he said.

“This could be, for the first time in history, a recession brought on ourselves. As I stand here in B&Q, it would be a DIY recession.”

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