Lord Sugar says Boris Johnson and Michael Gove should be in prison over Brexit 'lies'
The pair endorsed the false claim that the UK gives £350m a week to the EU, which could instead be used to fund the NHS
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Boris Johnson and Michael Gove should be in prison for Brexit “lies”, Apprentice presenter Lord Alan Sugar has said.
Lord Sugar, a former Labour peer who now sits with no party, said the pair should “100 per cent absolutely be thrown in jail for claiming the NHS would be £350 million richer if Britain left the EU.
“I mean, absolutely. Or at least they should have a criminal record,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Emma Barnett show when asked whether the Tory ministers should be imprisoned.
“I promise you in five years time – three or four years time – people will be kicking themselves for leaving the European Union. ”
Lord Sugar also said Theresa May would be “fired” on his programme and that he would send Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on “a nice little trip” to Sibera – a reference to the location of Soviet work camps.
Mr Johnson and Mr Gove were both associated with the Vote Leave campaign – whose campaign literature falsely suggested the NHS would be £350 million a week better off after Britain left the EU. The campaign was cautioned by the head of the UK Statistics Authority over the false figures, but continued to use them.
“Absolutely, 100 per cent absolutely. Absolutely. Or at least they should have a criminal record, because the damage that is going to be caused will dawn upon people in two to three years time when they turn to themselves and say ‘I don’t like this being out of the EU business, I don’t know why I voted out of it’,” he told the programme.
“If you look at the statistics for who voted for leaving or remaining, it wasn’t exactly a landslide.
“How many of the people who voted believed that lie about the £350 million ... that would be redeployed in the NHS. If you took the number that voted solely for that reason, we would not be leaving the EU.
“In three to four years’ time, people will be kicking themselves for leaving the EU. Their lifestyle will change, their total lie will change, and that has been caused by a lie!”
Lord Sugar left Labour in 2015, after the party shifted slightly to the left of centre under Ed Miliband
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