BORIS Johnson was ridiculed yesterday after claiming a no-deal Brexit is the “closest to what people” wanted when they voted to leave the EU in 2016.
The former foreign secretary’s new found enthusiasm for crashing out of Europe with no agreement is in stark contrast to his previously held belief that doing so would be “insane”.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Johnson – who this weekend topped a poll of Tory members to be the party’s next leader – said numerous grim warnings about a disorderly Brexit were being met with “indifference and resolve” by the public.
The Eton educated Tory toff said Leave supporters “didn’t vote for anything like Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement”.
“They voted to come out,” he said. “It is no deal or WTO terms that actually corresponds to their idea of coming out, and they view that option with a confidence that is now directly proportional to the growing strength of the Government’s warnings against it, because these doom-laden predictions are so hyperbolical as to suffer from the law of diminishing returns.
Far from terrifying the public into accepting the Prime Minister’s deal, these threats are increasing a determination to reject it.”
“This will bring not threats, but golden opportunities for this country - to pass laws and set taxes according to the needs of the UK.”
There was support for Johnson, from his staunch supporter Ross Thomson. The Scottish Tory MP for Aberdeen South tweeted: “Leaving the EU on WTO terms means we have our own trade policy, save billions of our own money, take back control of our own law
making, regain control over our own borders and take back control
of our own fishing waters. That’s #Brexit. Thats closer to what people
voted for.”
The SNP’s Angus MacNeil was stunned. “Where to start ... But for one a ‘trade policy’ is not the same as ‘trade’,” he tweeted.
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