A speech made by David Lammy in 2019 has cropped up again on the back of Brexiteer outrage over visa controls.
Yesterday, during PMQs, Edward Leigh had a ‘that’s-not-what-I-ordered’ moment after he decried the government for offering “generous” visa schemes to citizens in India in exchange for a free trade deal.
He said: “Our new working-class voters who voted Brexit did not vote to replace immigration from Europe with more immigration from the rest of the world.”
Except, as David Lammy pointed out in 2019, that is exactly what they voted for.
The Labour MP said at the time that there is a “fundamental dishonesty” at the heart of the Brexit debate in an impassioned address to the House.
He said that most MPs now recognise it in private, but do not say it in public, that “Brexit is a con. A trick. A swindle. A fraud. A deception that will hurt most those people it promised to help. A dangerous fantasy which will make every problem it claims to solve worse.
“A campaign won on false promises and lies.”
On immigration, he added that “when we enter negotiations with countries like India and China, they will ask for three things. Visas. Visas. And more visas.
“And they will get them because we will be weak.”
Looks like he hit the nail on the head!
Related: Elevenses: Brexit betrayal theory
