JOHN McDonnell has hit out at what he said is David Cameron’s “Project Fear” approach to next week’s EU referendum as he suggested the Prime Minister was damaging the Remain case by adopting similar tactics to anti-independence campaigners.

The shadow chancellor stated that he thought Cameron’s latest warning that Brexit may hit people’s pensions could be “exaggerated”, in a clear signal the Labour leadership will heavily promote its own distinctive pro-EU case in the closing stages of the campaign.

McDonnell launched one of Labour’s strongest attacks yet on Cameron’s style of campaigning on the same day the Tory leader was accused by Brexit backers of trying to “bully and frighten” voters by warning the state pension could be squeezed.

Cameron said he had a duty to spell out the economic risk of leaving the EU and stated that the strain on the public finances caused by Brexit would threaten the end of the “triple lock” guarantee for OAP payments and protections for health and defence funding.

However, McDonell said he was “fed-up of ‘Project Fear’ on both sides” as he launched a blistering attack on the way the referendum debate was being conducted and said Labour had 10 days to “save” the EU ahead of the June 23 vote.

The shadow chancellor said he was a “sort of eurosceptic” who did not like the institutions of the EU, which he suggested were undemocratic.

Speaking in an interview on ITV’s Peston on Sunday, he said a Brexit would “reinforce the right wing” in the Conservative party.

McDonnell suggested it would be a mistake to repeat scare stories along similar lines to those used by No campaigners in the run-up to the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. He said: “I think I’m where most people are at at the moment, in terms of I’m fed up of ‘Project Fear’ on both sides.

“I think what’s been happening is there have been exaggerated claims on both sides and that’s turned people off.”

The hardening of Labour’s language on the EU from McDonnell came after Jeremy Corbyn visited Aberdeen and Dundee at the weekend.

Corbyn called on Scots to put thoughts of a possible second independence referendum to one side when deciding if the UK should remain part of Europe and to show “solidarity with people across the continent”.

In a pitch to Labour voters tempted to back a Brexit, McDonell said that pulling out of the EU would mean the country would “suffer badly with austerity politics” and the “economic consequences” would “have a huge knock-on effect on all our public services”.

He said: “It will mean a savage attack on workers’ rights, privatisation of our public services and the undermining of the long-term future of our economy. That’s not project fear, that’s an objective assessment in our view.”

McDonnell was asked if Cameron was wrong to claim that public services could be cut if the UK backs Brexit.

He said: “It is true that there are risks to our economy because our economy is fragile, and I blame the Tories for it being so fragile.”

However, McDonnell launched a swipe at Cameron as well as at claims from key Brexit figures such as Ukip leader Nigel Farage and Tory MP Boris Johnson that a vote to remain would lead to a surge in immigration.

McDonnell said: “Most people I think come from my sort of position, which is I didn’t vote to go in the common market, I’m sort of Eurosceptic.

“I want to be in Europe but I don’t like the institutions of the European Union, I want reform, I want change – I don’t want a leap in the dark. I just want some security of how we’re going forward.”

McDonnell added: “I want to stay within but I want it to be Labour voices now in this next 10 days to save this campaign, because up until now all we’ve heard is Conservatives fighting amongst themselves who seem more interested in who’s the leader of the Tory party than they are about the future of our country.”

In a sign of the bitterness within Tory ranks, pro-Brexit former party leader Iain Duncan Smith accused Cameron of a “vindictive and desperate attempt to bully and frighten the British people”.

Cameron had said ministers would be “forced” to re-examine pensioner benefits in the aftermath of a Brexit.

“We’ve made a special effort to protect pensioners,” said Duncan Smith – highlighting the “triple lock” which says the state pension will rise in line with earnings, inflation or by 2.5 per cent, whichever is higher, and the protection of bus passes and free TV licences.

Meanwhile, Stephen Gethins MP, the SNP's Europe spokesman, echoed McDonnell’s warning. He said: “Project Fear does not work, and as we have said from the beginning of this campaign, the best way to make the case for EU membership is by building a positive case – and there is a lot to be positive about.”


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