Ann Widdecombe's EU slavery remarks branded as 'disgusting'

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Source: BBC

Ann Widdecombe's EU slavery remarks branded as 'disgusting'

By Jennifer Scott
BBC political reporter

4 July 2019

Brexit Party MEP Ann Widdecombe has been criticised for comparing the UK leaving the EU to "slaves" rising up "against their owners".

She made the remarks during her maiden speech in the European Parliament on Thursday, which critics branded "disgusting" and "offensive".

Labour MP David Lammy described her words as "ahistorical".

But Ms Widdecombe told the BBC's Newsnight people had interpreted her speech in a "melodramatic fashion".

The former Conservative MP and shadow home secretary was one of 29 Brexit Party candidates who won European Parliament seats in May.

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Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-48869520

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Source: The Guardian

Ann Widdecombe likens Brexit to emancipation of slaves

Widdecombe becomes first Brexit party MEP to speak in new European parliament

Daniel Boffey in Brussels
Thu 4 Jul 2019 13.04 BST Last modified on Thu 4 Jul 2019 17.39 BST

The former Conservative minister Ann Widdecombe has likened the UK’s departure from the EU to the emancipation of slaves, as she became the first Brexit party MEP to speak in the new European parliament.

With her leader, Nigel Farage, on her right, Widdecombe said the recent negotiations among the EU’s heads of state and government over the leadership of the bloc’s institutions confirmed the need for Britain to leave.

“It’s not democratic at all and that is just one of many reasons why Britain is right to be leaving this place, hopefully on Halloween,” Widdecombe told a plenary session of the European parliament in Strasbourg. “If that’s this place’s idea of democracy that’s a serious betrayal of every country represented here.”

Widdecombe, who was criticised this month for claiming science might “produce an answer” to being gay, said the UK’s departure from the EU equated to a liberation.

She said: “There is a pattern consistent throughout history of oppressed people turning on their oppressors, slaves against their owners, the peasantry against the feudal barons, colonies against empires, and that is why Britain is leaving … It doesn’t matter which language you use, we are leaving and we are pleased to be going. Nous allons [sic], wir gehen, we are off!”

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jul/04/ann-widdecombe-likens-brexit-to-emancipation-of-slaves