Nick Ferrari challenges Michael Gove over Tory referendum claims

6 December 2019, 11:42

Nick Ferrari grilled Michael Gove over why Commonwealth citizens are allowed to vote in referendums but he called it "fundamentally undemocratic" to allow EU citizens to vote.

This is after Boris Johnson accused Jeremy Corbyn of trying to "fiddle" a second referendum towards remain when the Labour leader proposed enfranchising 2 million EU citizens to allow them to vote.

"So you can vote if you're from Australia and New Zealand but you can't if you're from France and Italy, why is that fair?" asked Nick, "I can vote if I'm from Sydney but I can't vote if I've come from Seville in the eyes of the Conservatives."

Mr Gove called it "wrong" to move the goalposts from one election to the next.

He said, "You either play rugby union or you play rugby league - and the referendum was run on one basis with a particular set of rules. You cannot change the rules from one referendum to the next."

Nick countered that it would affect the former resident of Sydney as much as it would affect the former resident of Seville and pushed Mr Gove to answer why ex-EU citizens are not allowed to vote under a Conservative government.

"I think we know why that is, you're frightened you'd lose," said Nick.

The chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster denied this: "I think it's critically important that we maintain respect for our democracy and the way in which we do that is by honouring the original vote. Every party agreed that whatever the result of that referendum people would have their wish."

He continued, "Now we have a situation where at the last general election the Labour party stood on a manifesto saying they would honour the referendum result. Now they're standing on a manifesto saying they want to have a second referendum and that they want to change the rules. That's fundamentally undemocratic."