Nick Ferrari slapped down a minister today after he cited the Covid-19 vaccine as a Brexit “achievement”.
Transport minister Richard Holden was asked to name the three “best achievements” of Brexit on the third anniversary of the UK’s departure from the European Union.
But when he named the Covid vaccine roll-out as his first example, veteran presenter Ferrari told him that was “not true”.
Holden told LBC: “Well, I’d say from the start the biggest impact we’ve seen over the last couple of years is probably Britain’s ability to fulfil its own vaccine programme...”
Ferrari interrupted: “Well, you will be aware of course the independent website Full Fact say that’s not true. And even the boss of our own MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) Dr June Raine has also said that’s not true. So can we strike that one out?”
Holden conceded that he was “absolutely right” and the country could have done it “within the EU”.
But he added: “I think the pressure, if we’d been in the EU to be part of an EU scheme, would have been quite unbelievable.”
For his second example he cited the UK’s procurement rules and for his third he outlined Solvency II reforms that have enabled Britain’s financial services sector to “remain head and shoulders above the rest of Europe”.
Last night senior Tory MP Dame Andrea Leadsom insisted that leaving the EU will be “the best decision we ever made” on a special episode of BBC’s Newsnight.
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund has forecast that the UK economy will perform worse than every other major country in 2023 - including Russia.