‘How is that anecdote? That is cold hard fact that your hard Brexit is damaging our economy.’
Lib Dem MP Munira Wilson tore into former chief Brexit negotiator David Frost on Politics Live yesterday, giving him the ‘cold hard facts’ about the harmful impact Brexit has had on the economy.
Economic growth in the UK fell from 0.4% in December, to 0.1% in January. Lord Frost tried to blame Keir Starmer for the UK’s sluggish economic growth.
Politics Live host Jo Coburn challenged Frost’s claim, asking “what would you do differently at this point? I mean arguably Brexit was the issue that led to far more civil servants being needed and far more bureaucracy and far more regulation.”
Frost downplayed the idea that Brexit has created more bureaucracy and regulation: “Well I would question that, certainly some things were done in Brussels that we now need to do for ourselves but that’s a tiny number.”
Wilson shook her head in disbelief at Frost’s comment.
The Tory peer continued to say that the problem is that the government is introducing “extra regulation”, claiming that the Employment Rights Bill will “massively massively increase the bureaucracy and costs that employers face”.
Coburn asked Wilson if she agreed with Lord Frost. She replied: “No, absolutely not. We know that Brexit has massively hurt our economy.”
She added that the UK needs to negotiate a closer relationship with the EU and a deal on a customs union “so that we can cut the red tape that David is so desperate to cut”.
Wilson spoke about businesses in her constituency that are spending hundreds of thousands of pounds to overcome the additional red tape created by Brexit.
Frost said: “Anyone can come up with anecdotes about extra paperwork. The important thing is to look at the macro picture.”
“It is not just anecdotes!” Wilson interrupted, “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.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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