ONE of Bournemouth’s Tory MPs has accused the other of “taking scaremongering to new heights” by warning that JP Morgan could quit the town after a no-deal Brexit.

The US investment bank is the town’s biggest private sector employer, with around 4,000 people based at Chaseside.

As reported earlier in the week, Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellwood warned that the bank could leave the town if the UK left the European Union without a withdrawal agreement.

During a question and answer session about Brexit, he said: “I suspect they would not admit it themselves, but I suspect they would think about departing Bournemouth if that was the case.”

His remarks prompted an outspoken response from Bournemouth West MP Conor Burns on Twitter.

Mr Burns wrote: “This takes scaremongering to new heights. 'Project fear' is booming almost as much as the UK economy. ‘I suspect they would not admit it themselves’... in other words JP Morgan didn't say it.”

The town’s two MPs, who are not thought to be close colleagues, were on opposite sides of the referendum campaign over Britain’s EU membership.

During the 2016 referendum campaign, JP Morgan chairman Jamie Dimon visited Bournemouth to warn that the bank could axe up to 4,000 UK jobs if Britain left the EU.

He later said the decision could depend on whether the UK could negotiate a “passport” arrangement for financial services.

Last September, Mark Garvin, vice-chairman of JP Morgan’s corporate and investment bank, said the initial job losses at the bank would be “in the hundreds” but the impact could be “significantly larger” in the years ahead.