Has Brexit really helped the UK approve the vaccine quicker?

Matt Hancock suggested the Pfizer jab was approved in Britain first because we have left the EU. John Rentoul assesses the claim

The health secretary said lack of restrictions meant UK was able to move quicker than EU (AP)

Welcome to the latest example of how people will interpret a news story according to their pre-existing views of Brexit. Matt Hancock, the health secretary, who incidentally voted in 2016 to remain in the EU, put a Leaver cat among the Remainer pigeons yesterday when he said: “Because of Brexit we’ve been able to make a decision to do this based on the UK regulator, a world-class regulator, and not go at the pace of the Europeans, who are moving a little bit more slowly.”

This is not strictly true, but it is more true than has been suggested by some of the outraged and irritated responses, from British Remainers and EU authorities respectively. 

It is not directly as a result of Brexit that the British Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has been able to approve the vaccine so quickly. As June Raine, the MHRA chief executive, pointed out at the briefing yesterday, Britain is bound by EU law until 31 December under the terms of the transition period. So the MHRA has been able to assess and authorise the vaccine under the same rules that still apply to EU countries.