A Liberal Democrat slammed former chief Brexit negotiator Lord David Frost today by pointing out the real economic impact of the UK leaving the EU.
Britain’s economy is floundering right now, so the government is expected to unveil further cuts to public spending in this week’s Spring statement, while also cutting the civil service.
Frost, a former Tory cabinet minister, initially tried to blame the UK’s poor economic performance on Keir Starmer.
But BBC presenter Jo Coburn quickly suggested the problems could all be traced back to our EU departure – and the Lib Dems’ Munira Wilson said excessive regulation was introduced by Brexit.
Politics Live host Coburn said: “Arguably Brexit was the issue that led to far more civil servants being needed, more bureaucracy and far more regulation.”
“I would question that,” Frost, who led the UK’s Brexit negotiations, instantly replied. “Some things were done in Brussels we now need to do for ourselves, but that is a tiny number.
“The problem the government has gone into this extra regulation.”
He also slammed Labour’s employment law bill will “massively, massively increase the bureaucracy, and costs the employers face”.
Liberal Democrat MP Munira Wilson claimed this was overlooking the real impact of Brexit.
Asked if she agreed with Frost, Wilson said: “Absolutely not. We know that Brexit has massively hurt our economy, and actually everybody wants growth.
“The best way we can kickstart growth is by negotiating a far better deal with our European friends and neighbours at a time of great economic insecurity.”
She said this would help “cut the red tape that David is so desperate to cut” – and pointed to businesses in her own constituency who are spending huge sums to overcome Brexit bureaucracy.
Frost replied: “Anybody can come up with anecdotes about extra paperwork. The important thing is to look at the macro-picture, what’s happening to the economy.”
“It is not just anecdotes!” Wilson cut in. “We know that our exports to the EU are down £27bn, we know that four out of 10 British goods that were on European shelves before Brexit are not there anymore.
“How is that anecdote? That is cold hard fact that your hard Brexit is damaging our economy.”
She claimed if the government are “serious about growth” they would look at renegotiating an EU deal which cuts the “red tape and starts to get money into our economy so we can invest in our public services that your Conservative government let on its knees.”
