Brexit equivalent to losing a month's income, says OECD think-tank

Leaving the EU would be the equivalent of imposing a "tax" of one month's income on UK workers, one of the world's leading economic think-tanks has said.

The head of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said Brexit would be a "mistake" and accused those backing the Leave campaign of "wishful thinking".

Secretary-general Angel Gurria said there was "no kind of deal that could go better by yourselves than you would be in the company of the Europeans".

He expressed bemusement that Britain was considering divorce with Brussels as the OECD prepared to publish its full analysis of the implications.

"Brexit is like a tax. It is the equivalent to roughly missing out on about one month's income within four years but then it carries on to 2030," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"That tax is going to be continued to be paid by Britons over time."

The forecast is based on lower-than-expected growth rates outside the EU.

"In comparison with a baseline scenario they would otherwise have had in their pocket, in hand, to spend, they will not have - therefore it is as powerful, as real, as a tax or as if you would just give it over to somebody," Mr Gurria said.

"We have done the comparisons, we have done the simulations. In the end we come out and say: why are we spending so much time, so much effort and so much talent in trying to find ways to compensate for a bad decision when you do not necessarily have to take the bad decision?

"This is not wishful thinking - which we believe that the Brexit camp in many cases has been assuming. There is absolutely no reason why you would get a sweeter trade deal than you already have, no reason why you would have a sweeter investment deal."