A Scottish Saltire (C) flies between a Union Jack flag (L) and a European Union (EU) flag in front of the Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh, Scotland on Monday. British leaders battled to calm markets and the country Monday after its shock vote to leave the EU. Photo: AFP

 The leaders of the campaign to get Britain out of the European Union sought to ease concerns about the country's uncertain economic future by giving public backing to Bank of England Governor Mark Carney and finance minister George Osborne.

In the run-up to last week's referendum, Carney and Osborne incensed Leave campaigners by warning that a vote to pull out of the EU would hit the economy.

Carney faced a call for his resignation from one lawmaker from the ruling Conservative Party during the campaign, and last week the official Vote Leave campaign released a video attacking him over his previous employment with Goldman Sachs. But Boris Johnson, who is now considered the front-runner to become Britain's next prime minister after steering the Leave campaign to victory, used his first comments since the vote to heap praise on the Canadian.

"Most sensible people can see that Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has done a superb job - and now that the referendum is over, he will be able to continue his work without being in the political firing-line," Johnson wrote in the Daily Telegraph newspaper in a column first published late on Sunday.

Justice minister Michael Gove, who led Vote Leave with Johnson, praised Osborne for saying early on Monday that Britain would cope with the turmoil caused by the referendum result.

"I listened to the chancellor and I found his words incredibly reassuring," Gove told reporters. "The chancellor's statement today provided the reassurance that people need."

Johnson kept up the soothing tone on Monday, welcoming Osborne's message at a news conference that there would be no rush for more austerity measures, despite having warned of higher taxes and spending cuts during the campaign.

"It is clear that 'Project Fear' is over, there is not going to be an emergency budget, people's pensions are safe, the pound is stable, markets are stable," Johnson said.

Investors are still alarmed by Thursday's vote and the subsequent sense of political vacuum after Prime Minister David Cameron said he would resign.

Sterling fell by more than 8 percent against the dollar on Friday and was down by a further 3 percent on Mondays. The yield on 10-year British government bonds fell below 1 percent for the first time as investors sought safe places to put their money.

Not everyone agreed that Carney should remain at the BoE, among them Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party, which has campaigned to leave the European Union for years.