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Columnist and former MP Stewart Jackson appeared on LBC to discuss Brexit and said Angela Merkel should be thanked in a way as he argued her political posturing in 2016 over freedom of movement may have tipped the Brexit debate in favour of leaving. Mr Jackson, who was the MP for Peterborough before losing his seat in 2017, said people were getting fed up with Ms Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron positioning themselves as better than other EU members. The Brexiteer then said he was “a fan” of Ms Merkel as without her clashes with former prime minister David Cameron, the UK may have still stayed in the EU.
Speaking on LBC, Mr Jackson discussed the Brexit debate and the current state of Europe.
He told the programme: “I’ll be interested in what our German friend says about Angela Merkel but to me she’s a Brexit heroine.
“Because her arrogance and inflexibility at the beginning of 2016 in refusing to look at freedom of movement as a renegotiation with David Cameron, actually, effectively, opened the door to Brexit.
“So I’m quite a fan of how, apart from the fact that you know this myth of German exceptionalism seems to rotate around or that the Germans do everything better than anyone else in Europe.
“Which clearly isn’t the case, if you look at vaccinations, national resilience, dubious ethical stance with Nord Stream and Russia and other human rights issues.
“We’re not any longer going to be lectured by people like Angela Merkel about why we’re bad and they’re good – And ditto, Emmanuel Macron.”
David Cameron had negotiated with Angela Merkel that if the Chancellor were to propose limiting freedom of movement for the UK then it would boost the remain vote.
In the led up to the Brexit vote, figures published by the Government showed they failed to cut net migration which was then capitalised by the Vote Leave campaign.
Russia’s dubious international actions have also made some countries question why Germany continues to work with the country for the pipeline.
During the construction of Nord Stream 2, Russia annexed Crimea, imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny and carried out poisonings across Europe.
Mr Jackson also attacked Mr Macron who throughout the pandemic has been undermining the AstraZeneca vaccine and the UK.
Mr Macron and Ms Merkel supported calls to prevent any UK travellers from visiting Europe over fears of the spread of the Delta variant.
French authorities also attacked the UK’s decision to put them on the amber-plus list where any traveller from France is required to isolate.
The rules have since been lifted but French authorities branded the move “discriminatory”.
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