Brexit bill would hit £200bn, says George Osborne as he joins former rivals

Trade warning: George Osborne
Ben Birchall/PA Wire
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George Osborne today teamed up with former enemies Ed Balls and Vince Cable to claim that quitting the European Union would cost Britain £200 billion in trade.

The Chancellor posed at Stansted airport in front of a Ryanair jet painted with the slogan “Stronger, safer & better off in Europe” to unveil a Treasury prediction of the economic cost of a Brexit. The plane was quickly dubbed “Scare Force One” by Brexiteers.

But the surprise of the day was the appearance of two men whom Mr Osborne had painted as “reckless” spenders and regulators during last year’s general election campaign — Labour’s former shadow chancellor Mr Balls and the Coalition’s business secretary Mr Cable.

Despite having sour personal relationships during the last parliament, the trio walked on together in a show of European unity, but stood at microphones placed several feet apart.

“We fought each other at the last general election with different economic arguments and we’ve clashed repeatedly in the House of Commons over the years,” said Mr Osborne.

“But there’s one thing we all agree on. And it’s that it would be a huge mistake for Britain to leave the EU and to leave the single market.”

At the end of his speech, the Chancellor said: “I’ll now hand over to Ed,” giving Mr Balls his cue to argue that the cost of training shoes would rise by 17 per cent if Britain was outside the EU.

The gathering was seen as a major coup by the Stronger In campaign, which believes it has greater cross-party appeal than the Leave campaign. It came on the day David Cameron used the Daily Mirror to make an appeal to Labour supporters. Mr Balls said: “Neither Vince or I are interested in the politics of this. You’re more likely to see us again on The Great British Bake Off or on Strictly Come Dancing, rather than back in the House of Commons.”

He praised Mr Osborne for rejecting the temptation to join the Leave campaign. “It would have been politically much easier for George Osborne to have gone along with the Brexiteers in his own party, but George hasn’t done that,” he said. Mr Cable, once derided by Osborne aides as “a hairy-eared has-been”, then said that the UK needed to be in the EU to enjoy the single market benefits. “The alternative is taking a one-way ticket to a poorer Britain,” he said.

Earlier, Labour MP Gisela Stuart said her party’s backing for EU membership was the “biggest recruiting agent” for Ukip in urban areas.

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