James O'Brien: Why Do Brexiters Still Trust The People Proved To Be Wrong?

11 March 2019, 11:18

James O'Brien questioned why people are still believing the leading Brexit figures who have proved they simply don't know what they are talking about.

Starting with Esther McVey's now deleted tweet claiming that all EU states will be required to change their currency to the Euro in 2020, James reeled off a list of things Brexiters have got wrong.

Speaking on his LBC show the day before Theresa May's crunch Brexit vote, he said: "Who are you going to trust? The people who have lied to you or made terrible mistakes?

"Or the people who turned out much to their own horror to be right?

"You have people who didn't understand what the single market was, who didn't understand what the Customs Union was, who didn't understand what the four freedoms were, who didn't understand the importance and the relevance of the British border in Ireland, who didn't understand just-in-time supply chains, who didn't understand why the Japanese car companies were warning that they would have to leave in the event of no deal or in the event of continuing uncertainty, the people who pooh-pooh what the National Farmers Union have to say, the people who pooh-pooh what the CBI have to say, the people who pooh-pooh what the Bank of England has to say, the people who pooh-pooh what the Office of Budget Responsibility has to say, the people who pooh-pooh the Treasury's own focus on what will happen in the event of the various different Brexits.

"So you've got all of those people there who have been wrong about everything, claiming that they understand what WTO terms means and that all the people who've been right about everything don't have a Scooby Doo what WTO terms means.

"And that really is where I am this morning, in a state of almost Zen-like befuddlement. It's a kind of almost rising above the mess and looking down and trying to unravel it.

"because I honestly think that a significant swathe of the population will continue to trust the people who have been shown to be wrong, rather than now finally turn to the people who've been shown to be right."