The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, has made a statement following the outcome of the EU referendum.
For the full speech, visit this link here.
“Today (26 June 2016) I want to reassure the British people, and the global community, that Britain is ready to confront what the future holds for us from a position of strength.
“That is because in the last six years the government and the British people have worked hard to rebuild the British economy.
“We have worked systematically through a plan that today means Britain has the strongest major advanced economy in the world.
“Growth has been robust.
“The employment rate is at a record high.
“The capital requirements for banks are ten times what they were.
“And the budget deficit has been brought down from 11% of national income, and was forecast to be below 3% this year.
“I said we had to fix the roof so that we were prepared for whatever the future held.
“Thank goodness we did.
“As a result, our economy is about as strong as it could be to confront the challenge our country now faces.
“That challenge is clear.
“On Thursday, the people of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union.
“That is not the outcome that I wanted or that I threw everything into campaigning for.
“But Parliament agreed that there are issues of such constitutional significance that they cannot solely be left to politicians, and must be determined by the people in a referendum.
“Now the people have spoken and we, in this democracy, must all accept that result and deliver on their instructions.
“I don’t resile from any of the concerns I expressed during the campaign, but I fully accept the result of the referendum and will do everything I can to make it work for Britain.
“It is inevitable, after Thursday’s vote, that Britain’s economy is going to have to adjust to the new situation we find ourselves in.
“In the analysis that the Treasury and other independent organisations produced, three particular challenges were identified – and I want to say how we meet all three.
“First, there is the volatility we have seen and are likely to continue to see in financial markets.
“Those markets may not have been expecting the referendum result – but the Treasury, the Bank of England, and the Financial Conduct Authority have spent the last few months putting in place robust contingency plans for the immediate financial aftermath in the event of this result.
“We and the PRA have worked systematically with each major financial institution in recent weeks to make sure they were ready to deal with the consequences of a vote to leave.”
