Big Ben ‘should ring out on Brexit day’
Brexit day in 12 months’ time should be marked by “huge celebrations” and the sounding of Big Ben, a leading Eurosceptic Cabinet minister says today. The remarks by Andrea Leadsom, the Leader of the Commons, put her at odds with John Bercow, the Speaker, and David Lidington, Theresa May’s effective deputy, who have both ruled out the idea.
BREXIT day in 12 months’ time should be marked by “huge celebrations” and the sounding of Big Ben, a leading Eurosceptic Cabinet minister says today.
The remarks by Andrea Leadsom, the Leader of the Commons, put her at odds with John Bercow, the Speaker, and David Lidington, Theresa May’s effective deputy, who have both ruled that Big Ben will not sound when Britain leaves the EU in March next year.
There have been fears that Britain’s exit from the EU on March 29 next year will not be widely celebrated because of concerns within Government about the uncertainties of Britain’s exit.
In January Mr Lidington, the Cabinet Office minister, said there were “no arrangements” for the bell, which is currently being refurbished, to toll to mark Brexit next year.
Last night a spokesman for Mr Bercow told The Daily Telegraph: “There are currently no arrangements for Big Ben to chime to mark the UK’S departure from the EU.”
However Mrs Leadsom told today’s Chopper’s Brexit Podcast: “The actual Brexit day will be a huge celebration as far as I am concerned. If you are going to ask me whether Big Ben’s bongs are going to chime, I say ‘absolutely in my view’ … I think it is cause for celebration.”
During a tour of Britain one year to the day before Britain leaves the EU,
Theresa May indicated that a 10-year funding plan for the NHS could be paid for using the so-called Brexit dividend, in the clearest sign yet that the Government is ready to make good on the key pledge of the Vote Leave campaign. The Prime Minister said that when Britain leaves the EU there will be money available to spend on “priorities like the NHS and schools” because “we’re no longer going to be sending vast sums of money … to the European Union”.
Earlier this week Mrs May told a committee of MPS that the Government will find money for a long-term, sustainable funding increase for the NHS but stopped short of saying exactly where the money would come from. Debate is raging within the Cabi-
‘There will be money available here in the UK for us to spend on our priorities, like the NHS’
net over how the extra NHS money should be funded, with some favouring an “NHS tax” of a penny on National Insurance while Boris Johnson and other Brexiteers are adamant it must come from the billions of pounds in annual savings that will come as a result of leaving the EU.
In an interview with the BBC during a tour of Britain to mark one year to Brexit, Mrs May said: “You ask about money from the European Union. Of course, when we leave the European Union we’re no longer going to be sending vast sums of money, year in and year out, sending that money to European Union.
“So there will be money available here in the UK for us to spend on our priorities, priorities like the NHS and schools.”
♦ Chopper’s Brexit Podcast is available from 6am at choppersbrexitpodcast.telegraph.co.uk.