Fake news! Sir Vince slammed over strawberry shortage claim

SIR Vince Cable has been accused of scaremongering after falsely warning that Brexit had caused a shortage of strawberries at Wimbledon. The soon-to-be Liberal Democrat leader said European fruitpickers had been put off coming to Britain for work because of the EU referendum. But a spokesman for the tennis tournament denied that there was any shortage. The former business secretary claimed the Government’s ‘extreme’ plan for leaving the European Union has already led to a shortage of fruit-pickers. Sir Vince, who is the only candidate to be the new Liberal Democrat leader, told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: ‘This week Wimbledon is being launched and the people who normally produce the strawberries can’t produce them because the labour force has disappeared because of anxiety about their future status in Britain.

‘And that’s one of hundreds and hundreds of practical examples of the way in which this extreme form of Brexit is going to harm Britain and we’ve got to stop it.’

Last week, a strawberry farmer who owns the Kent farm which provides Wimbledon’s strawberries said that she was nervous about the implications of Brexit for her workforce.

But a spokesman for Wimbledon said: ‘There is no shortage.’

Tory MP Nigel Evans said: ‘Game set and match to Wimbledon on exposing this fake news.

‘Vince needs to go visit his supermarkets in his patch where you can’t move for strawberries. He’s just been given a big raspberry.’

Sir Vince – who won his old seat of Twickenham, South-West London, in last month’s election – also said his party was likely to gain support as the ‘economic pain’ of leaving the EU becomes clear.

And he argued that Britain would be able to remain in the single market while managing migration levels.