Theresa May has been told the pound is “going down and down and down” on her watch, after she said a Labour Government would cause a “run” on the currency.
The Prime Minister was giving an interview to the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show and was hitting out at Labour’s Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell for “war-gaming” a run on the pound should Jeremy Corbyn become Prime Minister.
But it was pointed out to May that the pound has plunged since the Brexit vote by 20% and has not recovered on her watch.
During a nervy exchange, May was asked what had happened to the pound during her premiership and she claimed “the pound fluctuates”.
Marr quickly countered “it goes down and down and down, it is worth a lot less than it was”.
“A run on the pound, Andrew, it means people queuing up to take their money out of banks,” May replied.
“It means people really worried about their futures. That’s what a run on the pound would do. It means an economy going into freefall - that’s what Labour would do.”
The pound fell against the dollar and the euro in the wake of Theresa May’s Florence speech on Brexit last week.
New figures have also showed that the UK is now the slowest growing economy in Europe.
Britain has moved behind Italy in the latest growth forecast by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The economy will grow by just 1% next year, down from 1.8 per cent in 2016, it said.
If the prediction is borne out, it would mean the UK sees the most sluggish growth of the G7 group of major economies which include the US, Japan, Germany, France, Italy and Canada.
The Treasury has previously pointed out that the economy has grown continuously for four years and a record number of people are in work.