Andrea Leadsom has told MPs the UK after Brexit will be “less Mad Max, more Love Actually”.
Groans erupted across the House as the Commons leader joined David Davis in comparing the country post-2019 against film plotlines, after the SNP’s Pete Wishart requested “a debate on what other dystopian nightmares Brexit is not going to be quite like”.
The Brexit secretary ridiculed fears of a “Mad Max-style” future for the UK in a speech earlier this week, after it emerged an internal European Commission document claims that the UK quitting the EU could lead to “higher exposure to chemicals and carcinogens”.
Suggesting other comparisons, Wishart said: “We could have Apocalypse Now, or ‘apocalypse in a couple of years’, or Children Of Men.
“But my favourite would have to be The Matrix. We have bunch of clueless fantasists, living in an alternative world, believing they can impose their version of reality on everyone else. It couldn’t be more apt than that.”
Devout Brexiteer Leadsom rejected the claim, telling MPs: ”He talks about our life outside the EU and in my own opinion, it’s much less Mad Max and much more Love Actually.”
The exchange inspired pro-Europe pressure group Open Britain to come up with their own film adaptations - an example of which was shared with HuffPost UK.
Deputy director Francis Grove-White said: “The Oscars are coming up very soon, but this government won’t be winning any awards for their shambolic performance in Brexit: The Movie.
“We were told Brexit would be A Brave New World, but instead it’s sinking faster than the Titanic with Boris Johnson at the helm.
“Unlike the ending of Thelma & Louise, we don’t need to drive this country off a cliff. As Brexit turns out to be a box-office bomb, we all have the right to change our minds about whether it’s the right path for the country.”
In his speech in Austria, Davis promised Brexit would unleash “a race to the top”, not to the bottom, when it comes to global standards in labour laws and other protections.
“These fears about a race to the bottom are based on nothing, not history, not intention, nor interest,” he added.