
The European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has told the European Parliament that Brexit will be a "sad, tragic" moment for the EU, but that the 27 remaining countries will "move on" while the UK will "soon regret" the decision to leave.
Juncker told the parliament in his state of the union speech:
Brexit is not the future of Europe. It is not the be all and end all.
We will always regret this. I think you will regret it as well soon, if I might say.
Amid ongoing coverage of financial sector jobs leaving London for Paris, as companies move their European headquarters to avoid the depreciating pound, Conservative commentator Tim Montgomerie followed Andrea Leadsom's lead in criticising "unpatriotic" coverage.
*Another* BBC report (onR4 Today) on Paris seeking to poach jobs from post-Brexit London. As @andrealeadsom warned, it's looking unpatriotic— Tim Montgomerie 🇬🇧 (@Tim Montgomerie 🇬🇧) 1505286039
Many, many people in his replies saw fit to point out that accurately reporting news that Brexit is harming the UK's economy, is not unpatriotic of a public broadcaster.
@montie @andrealeadsom It's not unpatriotic in the slightest, Tim. This stuff is happening and it's a threat to our… https://t.co/tbJvVhMBd7— Chris Deerin (@Chris Deerin) 1505286105
@montie @andrealeadsom what if the scale of it only matches the threat?— Chris Deerin (@Chris Deerin) 1505286178
@montie @andrealeadsom Good. It's not the BBC's job to be patriotic. In that way, paradoxically, it best demonstrates true patriotism.— David Aaronovitch (@David Aaronovitch) 1505296459
@DBWLondon @AlexWilmer @montie @andrealeadsom 1) It happening 2) It's because of Brexit 3) Scale increasing because… https://t.co/Sm0ejQ58Qr— Rowan🇪🇺💙 (@Rowan🇪🇺💙) 1505287965
@montie @andrealeadsom How dare the BBC report news that Tim does not like. Especially as Tim owns patriotism.— JWExTheSpa (@JWExTheSpa) 1505286623
@montie @andrealeadsom No credibility when Andrea Leadsom as cited as authority on anything. Lost jobs inevitable p… https://t.co/kajE41fALa— David Hartwell (@David Hartwell) 1505288549
@montie @andrealeadsom It's not a broadcasters duty to be patriotic— Nick Washington (@Nick Washington) 1505286363
@montie @andrealeadsom You don't think it's important to report? Is it not "patriotic" to highlight British jobs ta… https://t.co/oeIuROkZQo— Tom Wilding (@Tom Wilding) 1505286339
@montie @andrealeadsom I see the Emperor is wearing a particularly fine new suit today.— Chris Jones (@Chris Jones) 1505286448
Montgomerie has defended his opinion by saying there is an imbalance of coverage:
I'm attacking an imbalance that's damaging to the national interest - sorry if that's difficult to understand https://t.co/QRXFWmiubH— Tim Montgomerie 🇬🇧 (@Tim Montgomerie 🇬🇧) 1505287081
However, some issues don't have two sides worth debating with equal weight. Sometimes there is an overwhelming body of evidence that one side is correct, and one is incorrect.
When news programmes try to stay "balanced" by bringing in pseudoscientists. https://t.co/V73oR9BANZ— Dr Julia Shaw 🏳️🌈 (@Dr Julia Shaw 🏳️🌈) 1503489522
Where you fall on this probably depends on how much optimism you hold for Brexit, led by a government that cannot seem to negotiate anything with Brussels. In fact the news comes amid reports that the treasury is preparing for a "no deal" outcome to Brussels negotiations.
Treasury is preparing for a no deal outcome on Brexit - Hammond— norman smith (@norman smith) 1505229766
HMRC is preparing for a no deal scenario in Brexit talks, Philip Hammond tells Lords Economic Affairs Committee.— Matt Dathan (@Matt Dathan) 1505230059
But on the plus side, the pound is at a year high against the dollar!
Pound hits one-year high over $1.332 ahead of UK jobs report - business live 📈💷https://t.co/CMxGByI9Uv https://t.co/sgIb71ekvw— Graeme Wearden (@Graeme Wearden) 1505286714
Because the dollar is slumping and we've still not recovered our currency back to where it was before the Brexit vote.
Oh. We should probably stop talking down Brexit now.