Video
Jacob Rees-Mogg blames Welsh 'socialists' rather than government inaction for border closure in Wales
Jacob Rees-Mogg in the House of Commons - Credit: BBC, Twitter
Jacob Rees Mogg has blamed Welsh "socialists" rather than government inaction for a new Covid-19 border with England.
Rees-Mogg said the Senedd had imposed an "unconstitutional" border between England and Wales when it introduced a travel ban on people coming into the country from virus hotspots across the UK.
Answering a question on whether the travel ban was "illegal", the Commons leader said: "What do you expect of a hard-left Labour government."
Several MPs erupted into laughter as he continued: "The approach to putting a border between England and Wales is unconstitutional and will place the police in an invidious position considering they serve the whole of the United Kingdom.
"We are one, single United Kingdom and we should not have borders between different parts of the United Kingdom and I'm afraid that's what you get when you vote for socialists."
"JRM has some neck, pulling out the 'U' word," one Twitter user posted.
@SpaJw tweeted: "Jacob's mind will be blown when he finds out that the government he is part of has created a previously non-existent border between Kent and the rest of the UK."
Most Read
- 1 Nigel Farage loses nearly 50,000 followers after Twitter suspends QAnon accounts
- 2 Tory minister admits UK rejected EU's music visa offer in order to 'take back control' of borders
- 3 Progressive alliance could see Labour win 351 seats at next election, new analysis reveals
- 4 Bob Geldof takes swipe at No 10 saying 'lying is second nature' to them
- 5 What Auf Wiedersehen, Pet teaches us about Britain and Europe
- 6 Jacob Rees-Mogg says it's 'all the EU's fault' musicians can't tour Europe
- 7 The greatest failure of government in our lifetime
- 8 The rocky road to Rejoin
- 9 Priti Patel fails to appear in Commons to answer questions on missing police records
- 10 Fifteen ways to fix Britain
Sarah Mackie wrote: "The irony of a member of the government that's booted rule of law out the window labelling anything 'unconstitutional'."
"You put a border between NI and the UK and the UK and EU," pointed out one user.
"Mogg does his bit for @YesCymru," quipped another.
"Oh Jacob, no wonder they've kept you under a stone for most of this crisis," added a third.
Become a Supporter
The New European is proud of its journalism and we hope you are proud of it too. We believe our voice is important - both in representing the pro-EU perspective and also to help rebalance the right wing extremes of much of the UK national press. If you value what we are doing, you can help us by making a contribution to the cost of our journalism.
