JD Wetherspoon attacks EU in second print of Brexit beer mats

A few days before Britain votes in the European Union (EU) referendum on Thursday, pub chain JD Wetherspoon printed half a million beer mats addressing Chancellor George Osborne and urging people to vote for Brexit.

The 500,000 beer mats, which will be stocked in 920 pubs across the UK, said that the EU was undemocratic and that the country's “European friends are being dragged down by Brussel’s bureaucracy”.

It criticised Osborne’s supposed reliance on institutional bodies to support the Remain campaign, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), HM Treasury and the Bank of England (BoE).

The message on the mats criticised the heads of the IMF and the OECD Christine Largarde and Jose Angel Gurria respectively, as Osborne’s ‘friends’, and that he employed governor of the BoE Mark Carney and is the boss of HM Treasury.

Lastly it asked the poser: “Does the nation not deserve more independent advice?”

In May, the pub chain printed 200,000 mats urging people to vote to leave the EU and questioned trusting the IMF and Largarde.

The IMF in April said Brexit could cause “severe regional and global damage”, the OECD in June said the Britain’s GDP could be 5% lower by 2030, the Treasury said Britain’s GDP could contract by 7.5%, and in May of BoE’s governor said the country could risk dipping into a recession.

JD Wetherspoon chairman and founder Tim Martin said: “Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne have tried to fool the public using scare stories from cronies or subordinates. Their main economic case relies on these people and their views are not independent or believable."

Prime Minister David Cameron criticised the likes of Martin and Michael Gove in a speech days later: "They say people have had enough of hearing from experts, had enough of experts. Would you say that if you were building a bridge or if you were buying a house? I don't want an expert opinion on the mortgage, on the building survey? Of course not.

"Why would you say it about one of the most important and complex decisions that this country will have to take in our lifetime?"

Recent polls have the Remain campaign in a slight lead, the Survation/Mail on Sunday poll had Remain at 45% and Leave at 43%, YouGov/Sunday Times poll had Remain at 44% and Leave at 43%, but an Observer/Opinium poll had both Leave and Remain at 44% each. Last week Leave had a six point advantage.