Former Tory cabinet minister Michael Gove has defended the controversial Brexit bus slogan claiming £350million was going to the EU weekly and should instead be going to the NHS
The controversial bus said: ‘We send the EU £350 million a week, let’s fund our NHS instead'(Image: PA Archive/PA Images)
Michael Gove has defended the controversial Brexit bus slogan claiming £350million was going to the EU weekly and should instead be going to the NHS.
Mr Gove – a key figure in the Leave campaign – said the figure was “literally the truth” but claimed the Brexit debate is too divisive to persuade people. He admitted the bus – which said “We send the EU £350million a week, let’s fund our NHS instead” – was contentious and still “enrages” people today.
But the former senior Cabinet minister batted away analysis from fact checker charity Full Fact, who has long cast doubt over the claims.
Full Fact has said the UK never paid the EU £350million a week and never owed such money to the bloc, meaning there was no option to take it back post Brexit. The organisation has also warned that the claim fails to take into account the major impact on the economy from changes to trade as a result of the UK ditching the EU.
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Michael Gove defended the £350m bus campaign
Analysis last month found Brexit has imposed “a large and persistent cost on the UK economy”. Think tank UK in a Changing Europe estimated that UK GDP per capita was 6–8% lower than it would have been without Brexit. Investment was 12–18% lower, employment 3–4% lower and productivity 3–4% lower.
But speaking on Sky News’ Electoral Dysfunction podcast, Mr Gove said he didn’t regret the £350m bus claim. “I know that the bus enrages people on the Remain side to this day and during the general election campaign and indeed at the Labour Party conference just a couple of months ago, there were references to it,” he said.
“I think it’s probably wearying for most people for me to go over the arguments again, but it is actually an underestimate of the amount of money that the European Union took from the UK taxpayer and then spent on the UK taxpayers’ behalf.”
Mr Gove added: “The argument that there were dreadful lies that seduced people out of their common sense, I think, is wrong… The £350million figure was debated and argued over at length. There was plenty of time for it to be taken apart.”
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Challenged over whether £350m a week actually went to the NHS under the Tories after Brexit, Mr Gove said more cash went to the health service. But he suggested the Brexit debate was too divisive for people to believe his claims, whether they are true or not.
He said: “More money went in. No, it is literally the truth. You will never convince people. It’s like, if I’m a cradle Catholic who believes in the Magisterium, I will literally believe that a wafer and wine are body and blood…
“I’m saying that I can recite facts and figures forever, not just proving, but proving beyond doubt that those statements were true and if anything, I will never convince anyone on the other side.”
Pressed whether the number was “disingenuous” because it failed to take account of the money the UK gained from being in the EU, Mr Gove said: “If someone takes money from you and then spends it on you, but you’ve got no say on it, isn’t it better if you can spend that money yourself?”
Asked about Full Fact – and Nigel Farage – both disagreeing with the bus claim, Mr Gove quickly dismissed Full Fact before turning to the Reform UK leader.
“Well, I don’t know about Full Fact, but I certainly disagree with Nigel Farage,” he said. “I think that it was not only accurate, but it also was a prediction. We ended up spending or devoting significantly more than £350 million a week to the NHS. A fat lot of good it did the Conservatives politically, but sincere good that it did for the NHS.”