Archbishop of Canterbury: Remainers are like Marvin the depressed robot from the Hitchikers' Guide to the Galaxy

Die-hard Remainers are "apocalyptic" in their Brexit forecasts, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said. 

In a new book, Reimagining Britain, due to be published next month, Justin Welby compares anti-Brexit campaigners to Marvin the depressed robot, also known as the "Paranoid Android", from the Douglas Adams book the Hitchikers' Guide to the Galaxy. 

He said Remainers "foresee the arrival of the Four Horsemen of the book of Revelation (death, hunger, war and conquest), or at the least the UK economy becoming like that of Greece, with massive rises in unemployment, a sharp fall in the value of the pound, consequent high inflation, the country turning in on itself and succumbing to extremism and xenophobia," he says, adding that they "risk giving the impression of channelling the depressed robot, Marvin, the Paranoid Android, in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy".

Arguing that both sides exaggerate the likely consequences of Brexit, he likens Brexit supporters to optimistic Doctor Pangloss in Voltaire’s 18th century satire Candide, arguing that they believe that "by the end of the process we will, like the Dodo in Alice in Wonderland , say ‘EVERYBODY has won and everybody will have prizes.’"

The Archbishop also uses the book to criticise so-called NIMBYs, who block new developments and damage community spirit. 

"A community that is too expensive and exclusive becomes like a hedonistic version of ancient Sparta: only the elite live in it and it is surrounded by suburbs of what are effectively helots – serfs – whose job is to be there during the day and be away or invisible at other times. 

"There is no diversity, no mixing, no valuing of difference, no sight of the poor; in all, a failure of genuine and caring community," he said, adding that large developers should be compelled by law to incorporate shops, gyms and churches into new estates. 

He also bemoaned the rise of buy-to-hold investing, saying "the move from a home as a haven to a home as an investment implies a reduced value for community". 

At an event ahead of the book's release the Archbishop also revealed that he is due to give evidence in person to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse on March 21.