Released from EU’s grasp we’re beating Covid-19

WITH each passing day the evidence mounts that the British people showed great wisdom and foresight in voting to leave the European Union.

The latest fiasco over the vaccine delivery in the EU is proof, if any were needed, that the machine in Brussels puts feeding its bureaucracy even before the lives of the ordinary people across the continent.

The slow approval of the two vaccines (weeks behind Britain); the failure to preorder enough doses or get the distribution mechanisms in place (months behind Britain); and the decision to get into a legal wrangle with AstraZeneca over the Oxford vaccine instead of ordering doses are all mind boggling incompetence.

No wonder people in EU member states are asking questions about this shambles and are looking enviously at the remarkable vaccine rollout in Britain. The front page of the German newspaper Die Zeit sums up why Britain voted to leave as it describes the EU as acting “slowly, bureaucratically and protectionist... and if something goes wrong, it’s everyone else’s fault”.

It is not surprising nor is the decision by the German tabloid Bild to tear apart Ursula von der Leyen’s explanation of the vaccine delays. Last year we found out that Britain dodged a bill of at least £70billion to bail out the EU from the pandemic cost.

Now we find out that free of Brussels we can distribute the vaccine efficiently and speedily. Not only are we better off out of the EU but in better shape to protect our citizens’ lives.