Boris: Remainers’ fake fears are like millennium bug
BORIS JOHNSON has compared concerns over the technical difficulties of leaving the EU to the unfounded fears that surrounded the nonexistent millennium bug in 1999.
The Foreign Secretary dismissed Remainers’ “fixation” with concerns that “planes will fall from the sky and the lorries will be stuck at Dover” after Brexit. Speaking in Sydney, Mr Johnson said he was “absolutely certain” the Government was going to get a “great deal” for the UK. He said: “The whole thing about the customs union and the technical difficulties is all being turned by great superstition into the equivalent of the millennium bug. Does anyone remember the millennium bug?
“The newspapers say this thing is going to happen on this day, and everybody gets fixated about how the planes will fall from the sky and the lorries will be stuck at Dover and plasma supplies will be cut off or whatever. It’s just not true. We will do a great deal.”
However, he appeared to undermine Liam Fox’s efforts to secure a post-brexit deal with America, by suggesting Donald Trump is “not committed” to free trade. He hailed the UK and Australia’s shared belief in free trade, which he said was no longer universal in the world, “particularly with some of our friends in the United States”.
Mr Johnson also revealed that Britain plans to send its two new aircraft carriers on freedom of navigation patrols to directly challenge China’s claims over vital waterways in Asia.