George Osborne regrets mistakes that led to Brexit referendum

George Osborne admitted that he regrets missing the opportunity to inform citizens of the benefits of belonging to the EU and not spotting “the shift in politics” that led to the 2016 Brexit referendum.

The former chancellor, said the Conservative party “did get things wrong” in 2016, including promising a net migration target of under 100,000 which was impossible to deliver.

“I think we were wrong to play into the debate that everything that Brussels did was a challenge and a battle,” he told Newsnight. “We were too late in the day trying to explain some of the benefits of European Union membership.”

He also said that in the immigration debate, the government didn’t highlight enough the value of immigration. Now, some businesses are showing grave concern due to the lack of qualified staff that will be available after Brexit if EU workers leave the country.

During the campaign itself, Osborne said he issued a series of warnings about job losses and tax increases if people were to vote Leavem which some critics claimed were part of a scaremongering agenda and Project Fear.

During the interview, Osborne also defended his decision to make £12bn in welfare cuts: “I took the judgement that if you were going to deal with the fact the country was spending too much, it would be a bit odd to leave out the very large chunk the government was spending on welfare.”