Tory "Leave" MP has switched to "Remain" over "lies about NHS"

[LurkingHusband]

Tory "Leave" MP has switched to "Remain" over "lies about NHS"

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36485464

Tory MP Sarah Wollaston has quit the campaign to leave the EU and will vote for Remain instead, she told the BBC.
Dr Wollaston, chairman of the health select committee, said Vote Leave's claim that Brexit would free up £350m a week for the NHS "simply isn't true".
She told the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg that she did not feel "comfortable" being part of the campaign.

[ProfessorPreciseaBug]

Or to put it more honestly,,, she has caved in to the pressure from the Dave machine and accepted a bribe.

The Government has made life very difficult for all the leave members of Cabinet. I happened across the Minister for Employment at a street stall.. She was said the atmosphere in Downing St has become quite unpleasant.

[GhostofFrankGrimes]

Hasn't the 350m figure been debunked anyway - so she has a point? Its all over the Brexit battle bus.

The Tories always implode over Europe.

[prh47bridge]

she has caved in to the pressure from the Dave machine and accepted a bribe

I think it very unlikely that she has accepted a bribe and I also think it is unlikely she has caved in to pressure. She is notoriously independently-minded and completely uninterested in a government job. That makes it very difficult for the whips (or anyone else in government) to put pressure on her.

As GhostofFrankGrimes says, the £350M figure has been shown to be incorrect. It ignores the UK's rebate. If we take that into account and assume the government would have to largely keep up the grants aimed at poorer areas currently supplied by the EU it works out that our contribution to the EU is around the UK's actual contribution is around £150M per week.

Note that the Brexit campaign have also spent the UK's contribution on abolishing VAT on fuel and various other popular causes. I am therefore not surprised by Sarah Wollaston's actions.

[ProfessorPreciseaBug]

I am not interested in the so called rebate..
Once the money is handed over it belongs to the EU. True a lot is spent in this country, but is is spent according to EU rules.

Therefore it is EU money not UK money. The EU can change its and give the money to another country. The EU spends money on window dressing, not building foundations and infrastructure.

[Millyonthefloss]

There was front page publicity in the Guardian etc when Tory Sarah Wollaston switched campaigns. Yet when Labour Dennis Skinner and John Mann switched the other way a few days later it was hard to find any coverage at all. I wonder why?

[TooMuchCoffeeMakesMeZoom]

Why are you not interested in the rebate? The rebate is deducted before money is paid to EU.

The EU has invested lots of money in infrastructure projects across Europe including billions in the UK.

Or are these inconvenient facts?

[TooMuchCoffeeMakesMeZoom]

Milliothefloss - Sarah Wollaston is more interesting that Skinner and Mann. Wollaston is seen as an independent, free-thinking MP, one of them most respected backbenchers across the parties. She was selected by a local open primary, in the US fashion, and was not even a member of a political party at the time. Since she has been in Parliament she has stood up to the whips on numerous occasions. She is just not a 'party line' MP.
Mann is just rude and unpleasant, and Skinner hasn't done anything interesting for years.

[prh47bridge]

Once the money is handed over it belongs to the EU

The rebate is not handed over to the EU. It is deducted before any money is paid to the EU. It is our money. To pretend that it will somehow be extra money that will be available for funding the NHS if we exit is ridiculous.

Yet when Labour Dennis Skinner and John Mann switched the other way a few days later it was hard to find any coverage at all

Neither of these MPs switched. They both declared for Leave but neither had previously declared for Remain. Skinner has long been very Eurosceptic so his position is hardly a surprise.

Sarah Wollaston, on the other hand, initially declared for Brexit but has changed her mind. As TooMuchCoffee says, she is known to be highly independent. The Leave campaign were very pleased when she initially declared for Leave and made a big song and dance about signing her up. Her decision to switch to remain is therefore far more significant than a couple of MPs who have not previously expressed a view declaring for Leave.