U-turn on Brexit by Vote Leave boss who LIED to get your vote
Dominic Cummings is the man responsible for dreaming up the ‘£350 for the NHS’ lie [Image: BBC].
How many were persuaded to vote ‘Leave’ because they thought it would mean the return of sovereignty to the UK?
Both of those were lies invented by Dominic Cummings.
There was never the slightest chance of £350 million a week being devoted to the NHS because the sum, on which that figure was based, was wrong. It assumed that the UK did not receive any rebates from the EU, and also that the UK did not benefit from EU investment programmes. Not only that, but it assumed that any money repatriated to the UK from the EU would only be spent on the NHS, which would deny funding to other services.
And, of course, the UK never handed over sovereignty to the EU.
Now, it seems the arch-liar has admitted the error of his ways, saying that leaving the EU could be a mistake.
Of course, the Twitterati are already having fun at his expense:
https://twitter.com/xugla/status/882189041285959680
It is good to see that even the worst of people can have a change of heart, although he still hasn’t admitted his lies. As for his comments, surely they are…
Too little, too late.
One of the masterminds behind the Brexit vote has performed an astonishing U-turn by admitting that leaving the EU may be “an error”.
Dominic Cummings, the Vote Leave campaign director, described the referendum as a “dumb idea” before other ideas had been tried to win back powers from Brussels.
He has also warned that Brexit is shaping up to be a “guaranteed debacle”, without big changes in Whitehall to deliver a successful negotiation.
Mr Cummings is little known to the public, but is widely seen as hugely influential behind the scenes in pulling off last year’s shock referendum ‘Leave’ vote.
A former special adviser to Michael Gove, he coined the phrase “vote leave, take control”, which excited wavering voters into believing Britain could reclaim sovereignty.
And, notoriously, he came with the campaign for an extra £350m to be spent on the NHS every week from diverted EU spending – which also proved crucial, MPs said.
(Source: Brexit: Vote Leave chief who created £350m NHS lie on bus admits leaving EU could be ‘an error’)
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
The Livingstone Presumption is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
It could be a mistake but only the future will bear that out. As for the money; I said, at the time, to all who would listen, that only the government of the day could decide how the money was spent. Even if we did save £350m a week by leaving the E.U., you can bet your bottom dollar that the Tories would not spend one penny on the N.H.S.
The campaign groups were just that, campaign groups, not governments, nor political parties. They had no manifesto and no accountability, because they could not be held to “promises,” which neither side was in a position to make, let alone keep.
Aye, many people may have been persuaded by these arguments, real or imagined but they were not the only reasons why people voted to leave. There was little more factual information coming from the other side. The whole debate was emotional, rather than factual and I have been bemoaning this since the start of the referendum campaign. Nobody, on either side, was able to answer simple but pertinent questions that I put to them, even the Minister For Europe, a Remain supporter, which proved to me that nobody knew what they were talking about, therefore, how irresponsible it was of them to try to persuade anybody, one way, or the other.
At no time, since the first referendum, were the peoples of this country asked their opinion on any of the subsequent changes. How many people are even aware of what decisions were made, on our behalf, without our consultation, or consent? That is why this latest referendum was a farce and Call-Me-Dave should be in prison, for Treason! There was SO much that people needed to know, in order for them to make an informed decision and BOTH campaigns were lacking, more so, in my opinion, the Remain campaign. all that we heard were scare stories, opinion, conjecture, supposition and hypothesis, rather than hard facts. People didn’t know what they were voting for, on either side of the fence and little has changed, which is deplorable.
I wrote to Tim Farron, an ardent Remainer, recently and asked him the same questions that I asked other M.P.s and the campaign groups in the run up to the referendum. Answer came there none.
Britain vote to cut its own throat and is well on the way to doing it
It wasn’t a lie, it was s suggestion, and it seems only remainers think it ever said that all the money we waste on the eu would be used on the NHS.
It was on the side of a bus, and you still quibble about it. Unbelievable.
Don’t talk nonsense it was a statement which was deliberately false and maliciously intended to deceive. It’s as simple as that.
Barry, I had to concede this one. There is evidence and not the suggestion on the side of the bus although, it was not for anybody but government to promise. It would appear that people stepped outside of their remit.
Another Tory scam, Dave jumped as and as fast as he could.
This damned bus had nothing to do with my decision to vote leave, that was made 40 odd years ago in the 1st referendum. I live in a village that has been a community for 1100 years long before the EU which has has been a total disaster for this great country and it’s commonwealth. No where on that bus does it PROMISE to pay 350 million to the NHS!
“Let’s fund the NHS instead” – that’s saying, if you vote Leave, you will let us (the UK) put £350 million a week towards the NHS. It’s extremely clear.
I have to say, Mike, that the bus is open to interpretation and I would say that it is more of a suggestion, or a slogan, however, I was pointed to evidence, in another of your articles, which does, unequivocally, state that the money would go to the N.H.S. despite the fact that the people who said it were in no position to make such assertions.
I also think that our media had a lot to do with the interpretation of what was on the side of the bus. It was not helped by the fact that there were no clear rules, defining the roles of the two official campaigns and for that, I blame Call-Me-Dave, for he called the referendum. Nowhere did it state what the remits of the campaigns were, what their responsibilities were, their purpose; as I said, previously, the whole campaign was emotional, rather than factual. There should have been clear guidelines, clear rules, so that the public knew what to expect. There should have been an historical and factual backdrop against which to place the speculation, supposition and hypotheses that were coming from both sides, because nobody could, or can tell us, what the future holds. Also, it should have been made clear that no campaign group was in any position to make promises, merely statements of possibility. However, in my opinion, all of the pertinent aspects of the E.U. were missing from the debate. It is little wonder, then, that, despite what may seem obvious to many people, many people may have been swayed but statements such as that on the bus and those that came from Gideon and Call-Me-Dave’s mouths. Do you really think that, if they believed that a vote to leave the E.U. would really be that damaging, there would have been a referendum, at all? How irresponsible! But that seems to be Call-Me-Dave all over.