ONCE again an ‘expert’ is trotted out to warn the UK of disaster and pestilence of Biblical proportions should we vote leave on June 23.

A quick background check of Christine Lagarde shows she is neither neutral nor has the UK’s best interests at heart.

She is French, has served as their finance minister, agricultural minister, commerce minister and now heads the International Monetary Fund, a body which has very close ties with the EU.

She is also to go on trial in France for failing to prevent an alleged €400m fraud when she was French finance minister in 2008. (The Independent, December 17.)

By saying we should stay ‘in’ she is, effectively, saying the Common Agricultural Policy and French farming, which takes the major share of the funding at 17 per cent compared to seven per cent in the UK, will fall apart without British money to prop it up.

We should treat such ‘warnings’ from the IMF with the lack of respect they deserve.

– Alec Tritton, chairman, UKIP Forest of Dean branch.