EU Referendum: Vote Leave says Brexit would lead to higher wages and cheaper energy bills

Cheaper energy bills and higher wages will make households better off if the UK leaves the the European Union, Vote Leave has said. With 23 days left before the referendum, Eurosceptics said VAT would no longer have to be imposed on energy bills and wages would not be driven down by migration.

Writing in The Sun, Brexiters Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Gisela Stuart outlined a vision where "working people will be better off...the NHS will be stronger, class sizes smaller and taxes lower".

"We'll have more money to spend on our priorities, wages will be higher and fuel bills will be lower. Leaving the EU is a great opportunity for us to take back control of our borders, our economy and our democracy. Leaving is good news for the next generation," they write.

Shifting the battleground from immigration to tax and wages came after the Office for National Statistics reported net migration rose to 330,000 in 2015. Speaking on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday (31 May), justice minister Gove said leaving the EU would wrestle back power from the EU power over taxes.

"If we leave the European Union we can take back control of millions of pounds that we currently give to the EU, which is our money which we should spend on our priorities," Gove said.

"At the moment, if we stay in the EU, we hand over something like £350m ($511m) every week, which the EU controls. It is an accurate figure, that's the amount of money that the EU controls. Yes, they give us some of it back but they decide how much they give back, they control that money.

"We could ensure that if we leave not only can we spend that money on our priorities, we can also get rid of VAT on fuel. As long as we are in the EU we cannot remove VAT on any product and that will save the average family £60 a year. We know that if you remove VAT on fuel, fuel bills will be cheaper than they otherwise would be."

Gove added: "If we stay in the European Union we can't control VAT, we can't control the millions of pounds we give them every week, so if we vote to leave we can take back control both of the money we hand to the European Union and these tax rates. I just think it is wrong that VAT should be set by people that you don't elect.

"Firstly, 60 quid a year off a fuel bill means an enormous amount to hard-working families. Secondly, these bodies who say that there would be a recession or whatever if we left, they're the same people who when we didn't go into the Euro said that will be a disaster. They're the same people who were wrong about the single currency in the past and they're wrong now."

The letter came after Prime Minister David Cameron and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan cast aside their differences to launch a Britain Stronger In Europe campaign in London on Monday (30 May). Appearing days after the Office for National Statistics reported net migration rose to 330,000 in 2015, the pair said a vote for Remain would create more jobs and protect workers' rights.