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Brexit approach 'incompetent', ex Bank of England chief says

LONDON 5 Sep (ANA) - Former Bank of England governor Lord King has blasted Brexit preparations as "incompetent".

The Brexit supporter said it "beggared belief" that the world's sixth-biggest economy should be talking of stockpiling food and medicines.

This left the government without a credible bargaining position, he said.

A spokesperson for the Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU) said that getting a good deal with the EU was "by far, the most likely outcome".

Lord King said that "a government that cannot take action to prevent some of these catastrophic outcomes illustrates a whole lack of preparation".

"It doesn't tell us anything about whether the policy of staying in the EU is good or bad, it tells us everything about the incompetence of the preparation for it."

In a BBC interview to discuss the 10 years since the economic crisis - due to be aired next week - Lord King spent a significant amount of time saying the 11th hour preparation for a no-deal Brexit has undermined the government's negotiating position.

He added: "We haven't had a credible bargaining position, because we hadn't put in place measures where we could say to our colleagues in Europe, 'Look, we'd like a free-trade deal, we think that you would probably like one too, but if we can't agree, don't be under any misapprehension, we have put in place the measures that would enable us to leave without one.'"

In response, the government said it was "focused on negotiating a deal of unprecedented scope and ambition".

"We have already made significant progress," the DExEU spokesperson added. "The vast majority of the Withdrawal Agreement has now been agreed, and we are making further progress on the outstanding separation issues".

But Lord King predicts that we will find ourselves with what's been dubbed as Brino - Brexit in name only - which he said was the worst of all worlds. It's also a state of affairs that he fears could drag on for years.

"I think the biggest risk to the UK, and this is what worries me most, is that this issue isn't going to go away, you know the referendum hasn't decided it, because both camps feel that they haven't got what they wanted."(ANA)

FA/ANA/5 September 2018--------