Furious anti-EU MPs are attacking economic experts for 'worthless' Brexit forecasts
The chancellor relayed warnings made by The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) that the uncertainty surrounding Britain's exit from the European Union meant the economy faced a very difficult few years.
Britain is set to lose out on £57.8 billion due to slowing economic growth over the course of this parliament, while the Tory government's promise to balance the financial books by 2020 has officially been abandoned.
However, prominent Brexiteers in Theresa May's ruling party are refusing to accept the OBR's grim projections.
Iain Duncan Smith, the former work and pensions secretary, said it was "another utter doom and gloom scenario" put together by an organisation "that simply hasn't got anything right."
"The key thing is that the OBR has been wrong in every single forecast they've made so far. On the deficit, on growth, on jobs - they've pretty much been wrong on everything," the former cabinet minister said.
"Yet again one of these forecasting engines that is very close to the Treasury has come out with another utter doom and gloom scenario."
Tory Brexiteer Philip Davies agreed. Speaking to The Telegraph, he said: "It seems their forecasts are based on their personal political opinions about Brexit rather than on any genuine attempt at an accurate and independent forecast."
Another minister told the newspaper: "We were told we would be in a recession after Brexit. We are not. These predictions are worthless."
Perhaps the boldest rebuff came from Jacob Rees-Mogg, a notoriously outspoken member of the anti-EU wing of the Tory party. In an interview with BBC Newsnight, the MP compared the projections of economic experts to mystic predictions.
"There is a great line from cicero that there's nothing more absurd that it hasn't been said by some philosopher and I think suspicion of experts goes back into antiquity and it's a very healthy thing to have," he told the BBC.
"Experts, soothsayers, and astrologers are all in much the same category."
Organisations like the OBR came under attack from Leave campaigners like Duncan Smith and UKIP leader Nigel Farage during the referendum campaign for the alleged crime of disguising pro-EU propaganda as expert opinion.
Since then, pro-Remain MPs have cited recent economic projections as evidence that the Leave campaign was dishonest about how leaving the 28-nation bloc would impact public finances. Former Labour leader Ed Miliband said Leave MPs had lost the argument on facts so had resorted to "fantasy" - he tweeted: