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Emma Snaith
Nov 16, 2018
As the Brexit shambles intensifies, an audience member on BBC Question Time has been roasted for suggesting that a no-deal Brexit wouldn’t be as bad as the First and Second World Wars.
The man appeared on Thursday evening’s programme following a day of political chaos with cabinet ministers resigning left, right and centre in protest at Theresa May’s Brexit deal.
In a discussion about how long May can stay in power, a member of the audience from Milford Haven in Wales said:
With the disruption we had during the First and Second World Wars, would a no-deal Brexit really be that bad?
When you think about all the supply ships that were getting blown out of the Atlantic and we’re worried about this new deal. We got through that, I’m sure we can get through it with a no deal.
But the programme's panellists weren't so blase about the possibility of crashing out of the Brexit negotiations without a deal.
Conservative MP Claire Perry said:
Of course we could survive a no-deal, we’re a marvellous trading nation.
But you have Pot Talbot down the road - 30% of their steel goes to Europe. What about Welsh lamb being farmed up on the hills - a 70% tariff would be slapped on those farmers as soon as we have a disordered no-dea
In a rare moment of agreement, Labour MP and shadow secretary for international trade Barry Gardiner pointed out that no-deal would be a "disaster".
He said:
She (Theresa May) wants it to be her deal or no-deal because she thinks given all that people have talked about, that a no deal would be like some pretty grim days in the Second World War.
The clip has since gone viral on Twitter, with people joking about how depressing the Brexit conversation has become.
Some people compared the possibility of no-deal Brexit with other cataclysmic disasters.
Sigh.
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