'The fact both sides lied (primarily the exiters)'
There is no point in making such statements if you cannot back them up. At least put 'in my view' before them if you want to be seen as making serious comment.
Referendum campaign lies examined
1. Claim. The bus said ‘we send the EU £350m pw which we will spend on the NHS’.
Examination. The bus said we send the EU £350m pw. // Let’s fund the NHS instead. The 350m is the gross EU payment figure and misleading (250m is the net figure). However the quotation did not say we will spend 350m on the NHS
2. Claim. The stock market, economy, and pound will crash if the vote is to leave.
Examination. The stockmarket has risen and the economy has out-performed all forecasts. Initial trading caused a fall in the GBP of 10% however the currency has recovered a little and whilst still below the pre-vote figure is above the long term trend set up between November 2015 and May 2016. The fall if maintained will cause an advantage to exporters and may cause long term inflation.
3. Claim. There will have to be an immediate emergency austerity budget.
Examination. No such budget was necessary.
4. Claim. Pensions will have to be cut by up to 20%.
Examination. Not happened and the triple lock confirmed by the new administration until 2020. (Pensioners were identified as the group most likely to vote out).
5. Claim. Two thirds of British jobs are dependent on trade with Europe.
Examination. Fifteen percent of British jobs are linked to trade with Europe. There is no evidence to say that any of these will be lost.
6. Claim. All British proposals in the commission are outvoted.
Examination. Britain is normally in the minority in the commission.
7. Claim. Every household will be £4300 worse off by 2030.
Examination. The result of the same flawed model that predicted immediate damage to the economy. It took worse case figures and assumed a complete failure of exit negotiations leading to large tariffs and no change in the UK’s external trade.
8. Claim. The EU pays out more for research than the total UK payments.
Examination. Clearly nonsense but widely stated by some academics (one hopes their speciality is not mathematics). But the UK does receive more research funding per capita than most EU states. This reflects the status of UK universities. However the EU funds research outside the EU so this funding could continue and the government has pledged to make up any shortfall.
Many more claims were made but most were without foundation or based on wrong reading of the available statistics.
As an exiter I have the following comments:
The claim most frequently quoted as a lie by remainers is No 1. This was so widely discussed before the vote that no one could have been unaware of the truth.
The most pernicious lie was No 4 and should make sure that George Osborne is never again seen as a serious politician.