'Brexit Would Cost UK Families £4,300 A Year'

Every household in Britain would be £4,300 a year worse off by 2030 if the UK pulls out of the European Union, the Chancellor has warned.

Writing in The Times newspaper, George Osborne made the financial prediction as the Government continued to argue the case for staying in the 28-nation bloc.

He said the question facing British voters on 23 June is "one of the most fundamental our country has been asked to settle in a generation" and will have "profound consequences" for the UK economy.

Mr Osborne said the Treasury had carried out "rigorous analysis" of the long-term costs and benefits of EU membership or "Brexit".

He said leaving the EU would mean Britain would be "worse off, permanently so, and to the tune of £4,300 a year for every household".

He added: "The analysis shows that our membership of the EU, and the quota-free, no-tariff access it gives us to a single market of half a billion consumers, has increased our trade with our European neighbours by three-quarters.

"And increased our trade with the rest of the world too, because of the 50 or so EU free trade deals we are part of."