Politics

Footage of 'Eurosceptic' Liz Truss campaigning against Brexit in 2016 resurfaces

Footage of 'Eurosceptic' Liz Truss campaigning against Brexit in 2016 resurfaces
Nadine Dorries and Jacob Rees-Mogg endorse Liz Truss for prime minister
Sky News

Nadine Dorries and Jacob Rees-Mogg have announced their intentions to support Liz Truss in the Conservative leadership contest.

They threw their weight behind the current Foreign Secretary outside the steps of Number 10, saying that she represented “proper Conservatism” and was a “proper Eurosceptic”.

“Liz Truss is the best candidate. She is a proper eurosceptic who will deliver for the voters and she believes in low taxation,” Rees-Mogg said earlier today.

Dorries also Truss is "probably a stronger Brexiteer than both of us".

People have been reacting to the announcement online, and also pointing out evidence that Truss wasn’t much of a “proper Eurosceptic” at all – at least not back during the time of the referendum.

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Replying to footage of Dorries and Rees-Mogg, journalist Adam Bienkov posted a clip of Truss speaking at the FDF Food and Drink industry Dinner at the Hilton in Park Lane, London back in May 2016.

Truss was Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs at the time, and she addressed the crowd to tell them “Britain will be better off staying in a reformed EU”.

“I do think it’s in all of our interests to communicate the real impact on the ground,” she said. “The real impact this would have on jobs, on livelihoods. What we know, is less trade would mean fewer investments, fewer jobs and that will feed through to people’s incomes. That doesn’t just affect me and you in this room. That affects all of us in the overall economy.

“So even if you’re in a company that doesn’t export, the company that does export will buy less of your services,” the MP added.

“I think that’s a message we really need to get across in the closing weeks of this campaign. But I have great faith in the British people. I think the sensible people. They understand fundamentally that economically Britain will be better off staying in a reformed EU.”

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