Lord Frost says he wants prime minister to stop making “incorrect statements of fact”
Lord Frost, the former Brexit minister, said he wanted Boris Johnson to stop making “incorrect statements of fact”.
In statements six years after the EU referendum, at a ceremony held by the UK think tank in a changing Europe, he said Brexit was working, but called on Brexit supporters to be “honest” about the commitments. to leave the EU.
Asked about the Prime Minister’s claims that there were now more people working than before the pandemic, which has been criticized by the National Statistics Office, the former Brexit minister said:
I wish I didn’t say things like that that are obviously not true, making factually incorrect statements.
But in the end it is the Prime Minister’s own party and the deputies who decide is how they want to do things or not.
He denied that Brexit had caused a breach of confidence in UK politics.
The UK’s exit from the EU should be seen as a “gateway” to a “wider national renewal project” for the UK.
The UK’s “political elites” have “forgotten how to govern” in the EU, he said, but that would improve over time.
He said:
The task now is to design a meaningful program of supply reform, focused on boosting the productive capacity of the economy and boosting it.
But he warned that the government would have to “increase its game massively” if Brexit was to lead to a “visible economic benefit”.
If Brexit is still being debated in the same way in five or six years’ time, he said, it would be “evidence of failure”.
On honesty about commitments, he said:
I think it would be much better to be honest about these things and show where there really is a chance to make things better instead of pretending that nothing is wrong.
Updated at 10.42 BST
Prime Minister visits Rwanda while voting in crucial by-elections
Boris Johnson visited the Rwandan president this morning as voting began in Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton, where the Conservatives face two vital by-elections.
The Prime Minister is in Kigali, where he visited Paul Kagame in his office after strong criticism of his deportation policy to the East African country.
Last night, before boarding his plane, he asked critics to stop his “condescending” attitudes towards Rwanda.
Tomorrow he will face a potentially uncomfortable “cup of tea and catch up” with Prince Charles in Kigali after the heir to the throne criticized the government’s plan to bring people there with a one-way ticket such as to “creepy.”
After arriving by car at the entrance to the president’s office, PA reports, he climbed the red-carpeted stairs and shook hands with the president.
They then went to the President’s meeting room where they sat in white armchairs in front of a Union flag and a Rwandan flag.
Mr Johnson said: “How are you? Very nice to see you. What a thrilling time to be here in Rwanda. Congratulations on taking over the presidency of the office. That will be absolutely great.”
Kagame said, “It’s a pleasure. Thank you.”
The media was then asked to leave the room.
Meanwhile, in the UK, the two seats were occupied by the Conservatives before the by-elections were held after the resignation of two disgraced MPs. Labor are the clear favorite to win at Wakefield and the Conservatives are in a tight race with the Lib Dems at Tiverton and Honiton.
The ballot boxes, which opened at 7 a.m., will close at 10 p.m., and results are expected overnight.
As Peter Walker, the Guardian’s political correspondent, reported this morning, the results will be seen as a very important verdict by voters on Boris Johnson’s term as prime minister. A double defeat is expected to rekindle speculation about a new challenge for his party’s leadership.
These are the 15 candidates running in Wakefield, including Conservative Nadeem Ahmed, Labor MP Simon Lightwood and Jamie Needle for the Lib Dems.
There are eight candidates present in Honiton and Tiverton, including Richard Foord of the Liberal Democrats, Helen Hurford for the Conservatives and Liz Pole for Labor.
Walker writes:
The by-elections were called after their respective deputies resigned in disgrace. Imran Ahmad Khan resigned from Wakefield after being convicted of sexually assaulting a teenager, while Neil Parish resigned from Tiverton and Honiton after viewing pornography in the Commons.
The West Yorkshire seat had been safely in Labor before Khan took over for the Conservatives in 2019, and Labor is the clear favorite to win on Thursday. The Devon constituency, on the other hand, is considered a neck-and-neck between Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, although the seat in its various forms has been strongly conservative for more than a century.
The parish won in 2019 by a majority of more than 24,000. If they win the Lib Dems, it is mentioned that it is the largest majority ever dropped this way, although there have been higher percentage changes.
The loss of Tiverton and Honiton would probably be of particular concern to Conservative MPs, given not only the size of the majority, but also the fact that it would be another rural Conservative stronghold with a Brexit mentality to move to the Lib Dems in less than six months. In December, the Lib Dems took North Shropshire, nullifying a Conservative majority of almost 23,000 after former MP Owen Paterson resigned over a lobbying scandal.
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Updated at 10.50 BST