Nigel Farage Has A Very Fiery Row With Caller Over EU Vs WTO

14 October 2019, 20:55

"It's cloud cuckoo land, Nigel, and you know it!" a caller said in a very fiery row with Nigel Farage after he'd said it'd be more beneficial to have a deal with the World Trade Organisation than an EU treaty.

The caller, Eric from Beaconsfield, said that while there was a "majority for Leave, there was 48.2% of Remain voters. Since then you and others expected them to compromise and them to put aside their views to take the country forward with Leave.

"I actually see there being no Brexit, which suits me fine, but the reason I see there being no Brexit is the only group of people who have not compromised all the way along have been the ultra-Leaver WTO group. Who have sought out with an almost religious fanaticism their intention to have this purity of a total clean-break Brexit.

"Which by the by, the whole prospect of clean-break Brexit is absolute nonsense."

Nigel said: "We wouldn't be in the single market, would we? We wouldn't be in the customs union. There'd be no ECJ jurisdiction, we wouldn't give them £39 billion and we'd catch our own fish."

"Yeah what happens next week? It's cloud cuckoo land, Nigel, and you know it," said Eric.

Nigel said: "There are lots of independent countries around the world, 180 of them."

"Yes but they don't sit next door to 28 other ones," said Eric, "In a modern global economy where we are having increasingly issues with transportation around the planet for ecological reasons and we are not going to be in a trading group with the people who live next door to us."

"I've always wanted to be in a trading bloc," said Nigel as the pair argued, "For 25 years I've campaigned for us to have a free trade deal, as someone that came into politics from business. The problem is it's just not on offer in the next 20 days, is it?"

Nigel clarified: "We could, if we'd taken up Donald Tusk's offer 18 months ago, have been negotiating a Canada plus plus type trade deal."

After Eric said that only now Nigel said that's not what he wants, Nigel replied: "I've never wanted a new EU treaty and if the choice before me is a new EU treaty or WTO, I'll go WTO and I believe with WTO we've got a great platform not just to negotiate with Brussels but with many other parts of the world. That's my view and I can't see what's wrong with it."

"What factual evidence have you got to support that view? You've got none!" said Eric.

Nigel said he's got evidence of other "tiddly countries" like Singapore who survive trading independently, to which Eric said Nigel was insulting Singaporeans and asked him to say small countries.

Nigel continued that we're able to survive on our own as a small, independent country.