Richard Bacon Takes On Brexit Party MEP Over Ann Widdecombe Slavery Remark

6 July 2019, 17:14

Richard Bacon challenged Brexit Party MEP Ben Habib over Ann Widdecombe's slavery remark in her maiden speech at the European Parliament.

In her first speech in the new European Parliament, Brexit Party MEP Ann Widdecombe said there was a "pattern consistent throughout history of oppressed people turning on their oppressors", adding "slaves against their owners".

But Richard Bacon told the MEP the connection seemed "wild", questioning why there was a problem with the method used to pick the head of the European Central Bank.

"You couldn't really have a plebiscite across all of Europe to pick their head of the European Central Bank," he said.

Mr Habib replied to say it was "not correct" to have the heads of state "choose amongst themselves" the government of the EU.

"In effect, what nation state governments have done is abrogate their responsibility to govern us to the European Union to a very significant extent," he said.

"It's not correct for them to have done so, and for them to be choosing amongst themselves who is going to head what is effectively the government of the European Union.

"And what Ann was trying to illustrate was that this is all deals done in back rooms, rather than any genuine form of democracy."

But Richard argued back, pointing out the position of Governor of the Bank of England isn't picked by a public vote.

"There are people in powerful positions in the UK, whether it's the head of the Bank of England or head of the Met Police, that are appointed by professionals," he said.

"It seems to me the process by which those were picked is fairly normal, but when Ann is talking about how we don't have any sovereignty and it's a bit like being overseen by a slaveowner?

"The major laws in our land, in the UK, they are set here and they are set by our Parliament, that we vote for.

"A lot of the laws and the legislation and the regulations that come out of the EU are quite specific laws, they're not the laws that govern us minute to minute every single day, they're not the biggest or most important laws.

"They are laws over which it's better to cooperate across Europe for the purposes of things like trade, and I guess what I'm saying is, to compare that to slavery seems wild."

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