Bristol’s Green MEP responds to resignation of British ambassador to the EU

Commenting on the resignation of Sir Ivan Rogers as Britain’s ambassador to the EU and the subsequent furore around comments made to fellow civil servants to challenge “ill-founded arguments and muddled thinking”, Molly Scott Cato, Bristol’s Green MEP, and speaker on EU relations for The Green Party, said:

“It is clear Brexiteers are hell-bent on pushing out everybody who isn’t hostile to the EU. This witch hunt against anybody who is pro EU, which was actually the job of all civil servants until June last year, leaves us with only ignorance and hostility. Successful negotiation requires understanding and respect.

“It is ignorance about the EU and how it functions that has got us into this mess; ignorance perpetuated by many of the elite barons who own our press and media.

“Sir Ivan’s email reveals a government without a plan and a prime minister who is being held hostage by Brexiteers. My own experience of Sir Ivan showed him to be deeply knowledgeable and an expert on EU matters. But it seems we have entered a post-expert era in which the views of those with actual understanding of how the EU functions, which includes MEPs, are being excluded from the Brexit process. Side-lining such expertise will fail to achieve a good outcome for the UK.”