'Progress has been painfully slow': EU law specialist is 'disappointed' by Brexit developments
20 May 2023, 14:14
Barrister tells Matt Frei Brexit 'progress' is slow
Specialist in EU law, barrister Martin Kowe KC, believes that Boris Johnson's government "ran out of steam" whilst trying to achieve Brexit.
After Nigel Farage's shocking admission that "Brexit has failed," barrister Martin Kowe KC told Matt Frei that despite Brexit having made "progress", it has been "painfully slow".
Appearing on BBC's Newsnight on Monday, Nigel Farage said: "We're regulating our own businesses even more than they were as EU members. Brexit has failed."
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Nigel Farage 2017: "If Brexit is a disaster, I'll go and live abroad."
— LBC (@LBC) May 16, 2023
Nigel Farage 2023: "Brexit has failed."@mrjamesob: "It's a shame of course that we're not in the EU anymore because then there'd be 27 countries to which he could move - more or less freely." pic.twitter.com/ti0PuNTnYh
Matt asked: "Isn't it better to just be honest about the fact that it's not going particularly well but that it might get better in the future and, 'Here's our plan'? If you keep saying, 'It's going really well' and we keep missing the point, no one's going to believe you."
Mr Kowe, who is chairman of pro-Brexit group Lawyers for Britain, responded: "Well, I think what I said originally, and I'll reiterate, is that we have made progress but it has been painfully slow. I am extremely disappointed."
Matt cut in: "But wouldn't it have been better to prepare people for the slowness of the progress when you sold the proposition in the first place?"
"No, the problem is back in 2019 Boris Johnson's government got a stonking majority on the basis of implementing Brexit. A lot of it was blown off course by Covid, but they seemed to run out of steam."
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