Brexiteers attacked the Remain camp ahead of last year's referendum for using Project Fear to scare people into voting to stay in the EU.
Project Fear - according to the Leavers - consisted of wildly dramatic claims about how Brexit would devastate the British economy.This included warnings about a collapse in house prices, a new recession and surging unemployment.
We've examined how much of Project Fear has so far come true, as the UK approaches the one-year anniversary of its historic vote to leave on Friday.
So let`s looks at these claims in detail
House prices will plummet
THE CLAIM : The price of the average house would fall by thousands of pounds after two years if we voted to leave, George Osborne warned.
He said on a trip to Japan last year: "In the long term, the country and the people in the country are going to be poorer.
"That affects the value of people’s homes and the Treasury analysis shows that there would be a hit to the value of people’s homes by at least 10% and up to 18%.”
THE REALITY : It's too soon to know whether this warning will become reality because it was based on a two-year projection.
But so far there has been no fall in average UK house prices.
Land Registry figures show the average house price was £212,950 in June last year and that rose to £220,094 in April this year, the most recent month for which figures are available
Unemployment will rocket
THE CLAIM : When unemployment rose by 21,000 in the early part of 2016, then Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb implied there could be more to come if we voted to leave.
He told the Andrew Marr Show: "I’m not saying that the increase of 21,000 in unemployment is as a direct result of that, but it’s an example of the kind of really gritty questions that those people who say Britain should leave the single market need to respond to and explain why their vision of coming out of the single market actually makes the picture better and enhances job opportunities for British workers.”
THE REALITY : The unemployment rate stood at 4.6% between January and March this year, but it was 4.9% between March and May last year, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Maybe there will be a jobs price to pay once we actually leave the EU, but so far one has not materialised.
The British economy will go into recession
THE CLAIM : Credit Suisse said in a reported called "Mayday! Mayday!" last July that GDP growth would fall to 1% in 2016 and -1% in 2017.
Analysts wrote: “On the back of our forecast for GDP growth falling to 1% in 2016 and -1% in 2017, we can expect the unemployment rate to jump up to 6.5% by the end of 2017."
And Bank of England governor Mark Carney said one of the risks of leaving the EU "could possibly include a technical recession".
THE REALITY : The UK economy grew by 1.8% in 2016, according to the Office for National Statistics - much better than Credit Suisse predicted.
And the Office for Budgetary Responsibility predicts GDP growth this year will be 2%.
The stock market will crash
THE CLAIM : Treasury analysis in May last year said the stock market would "immediately" lose at least a fifth of its value if we voted to leave.
The report, signed off by George Osborne, said: "Due to the responsiveness of financial markets to economic developments, immediately after a vote to leave the EU, the price of equities is estimated to fall by around 20% relative to the baseline in the shock scenario and 29% in the severe shock scenario."
THE REALITY : London's FTSE 100 index fell so much during the four days after the referendum that £100billion was wiped off the nation's shares, but this was nowhere near 20%.
The loss over those four days was actually 5.7%. At its post-referendum low, the FTSE 100 stood at 5,982 points but since then it has rocketed to record highs and is now at more than 7,500 points, although this is partly due to the weak pound and the fact many FTSE companies are multi-nationals that do little or no business in the UK.
Inflation will go through the roof
THE CLAIM : The Treasury's official Brexit warning document also predicted CPI inflation would increase by between 2.3 and 2.7 percentage points by the 2017/18 financial year if we voted to leave.
It said in no uncertain terms: "A vote to leave the EU would push the UK into recession, lead to a spike in inflation and a rise in unemployment."
THE REALITY : The 2017/18 financial year has only just started, but this warning about inflation has already been vindicated.
CPI inflation stood at 0.5% in June last year - and it was 2.9% last month. That's a rise of 2.4 percentage points since we voted to leave the EU.
There will be an emergency Budget to slash public spending
THE CLAIM : Chancellor George Osborne shared a stage with his Labour predecessor, Alistair Darling, to warn there would be an emergency Budget if we voted to leave.
Mr Osborne claimed a £30billion black hole would need to be filled through tax hikes and spending cuts.
He said: "Far from freeing up money to spend on public services as the Leave campaign would like you to believe, quitting the EU would mean less money. Billions less."
THE REALITY : No such Budget ever went before Parliament.
Mr Osborne was promptly sacked when Theresa May won the Tory leadership election and her Chancellor, Philip Hammond, waited until March 2017 to bring a Budget to the House of Commons.
The pound will collapse
THE CLAIM : Billionaire investor George Soros wrote in the Guardian three days before the referendum: "To start off, sterling is almost certain to fall steeply and quickly if there is a vote to leave.
"I would expect this devaluation to be bigger and more disruptive than the 15% devaluation that occurred in September 1992."
THE REALITY : This was the only one they got right! The value of the pound plunged from $1.49 on the day of the referendum to $1.32 four days later - a difference of 12%. And at the time of writing the pound is now worth $1.28 - exactly 15% difference. A small price to pay for freedom?
Posted by David Pilkington
Extract from: dailymirrior.co.uk
