Bank of England Confirms Investigation Into Consequences of UK Exit From EU

The Bank of England, the main financial regulator in Britain, confirmed it has a secret taskforce investigating into possible outcomes of the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Guardian reported on Friday that the Bank’s head of press by mistake forwarded to a newspaper's editor part of the internal communication on the EU exit research. The Bank instructed its senior staff in the e-mail not to make any reference about the forthcoming referendum on the UK membership in the bloc if asked about the research.

The Bank published a statement on its website Friday evening confirming the e-mail it accidentally sent to the newspaper, although calling the publication “unfortunate.”

“There are a range of economic and financial issues that arise in the context of the renegotiation and national referendum. It is one of the Bank’s responsibilities to assess those that relate to its objectives,” the Bank said in the statement.

Tapping into a growing wave of Eurosceptic and anti-migration sentiment in the country, UK Prime Minister David Cameron promised to let Britons vote on whether or not to leave the 28-member bloc in the event of his Conservative Party winning the May 7 general election.

Defying all predictions, the Tories won 331 of the House of Commons' 650 seats, securing a comfortable majority and handing Cameron his second term in office.

The Conservatives' unexpected majority in the election gives Cameron a mandate to hold a referendum on the United Kingdom's secession from the European Union by 2017.

Last week, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said he wanted the United Kingdom to hold a referendum on its membership of the European Union earlier than 2017, since its anticipation creates uncertainty for the UK companies and would negatively affect the economy.