PM Accused Of 'Ludicrous' EU Scaremongering

David Cameron and George Osborne have been accused of "ludicrous scaremongering" by two former Tory leaders and two former party chancellors.

In a scathing letter written by Lord Lamont, Lord Lawson, Lord Howard and Iain Duncan Smith, they say the Conservative leadership has been peddling the "phoney forecasts" of the Bank of England and Treasury.

Rounding on Mr Osborne, they say his threat of an emergency Brexit Budget with £30bn of cuts and tax hikes was "ludicrous scaremongering born of desperation".

And they add to speculation the Chancellor will have no future after the referendum saying: "No responsible Chancellor would seriously propose such a thing."

It comes as Sky Data suggests 60% of people think Remain has used "scaremongering" as a tactic, while just 40% think Leave has tried to frighten people into voting Brexit.

The data also indicates that 48% of people think "Project Fear" is working.

In the letter, published in The Daily Telegraph, the senior Conservatives set out the facts claiming that the UK could easily prosper outside the EU.

They say that freed from the EU, the country could broker better deals with emerging economies claiming that the Euro has made Europe "the world's laggard".

And they rubbish claims the EU would impose tough tariff barriers as "retribution" for Brexit saying it would be "an absurd act of economic self-harm" because the UK imports £70bn more from Europe that the UK sells there.

Lord Howard told Sky News that the "scaremongering forecasts" put out by Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne were "quite misplaced".

And he added that the Bank of England forecasts were based on wrong assumptions.

The Prime Minister hit back, tweeting: "It's deeply concerning that the Leave campaign is criticising the independent Bank of England."

Despite the scathing criticism, Lord Howard went on to tell Sky News the Tory party could be reunited after the EU referendum and insisted he thought Mr Osborne a "good chancellor".

He said: "I am sure the Prime Minister will make sensible decisions about what’s necessary to bring us together and I think that's perfectly doable