Sophy Ridge on Sunday Interview with Anna Soubry Change UK

ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO SKY NEWS, SOPHY RIDGE ON SUNDAY

SOPHY RIDGE: Well it was supposed to be the dawn of a new era in politics but instead Change UK is struggling to break through. The party’s Brexit spokesperson is Anna Soubry, she joins us now. Thank you for being here with us in the studio this morning.

ANNA SOUBRY: A pleasure.

SR: Change UK, polling around 3%, your lead candidate in Scotland has defected to the Lib Dems, what’s going on?

ANNA SOUBRY: Well look, we were formed five weeks ago, if that actually. I think we are actually doing remarkably well. We are up against these big Goliaths and I think my big takeaway from all this, when I go to the rallies and am actually just out and about, I genuinely believe there is a real thirst in our country. Millions of people believe nobody represents them, they want that sensible, centrist, moderate but progressive politics, accepting that all the political parties are responsible for the breaking of politics and I believe, I genuinely believe we offer the change the people of this country are desperate to receive.

SR: But why isn’t it cutting through? When you look at the polls, and I know you say you were only set up a few weeks ago but the Brexit party are on 33% and they’re a new party as well.

ANNA SOUBRY: Well no, I’m so sorry, the Brexit Party is just another extension of the Nigel Farage ego party that has been in one way or another, one guise or another, for the last twenty odd years. I was told in 2015 five days before the general election that I was going to lose my seat – my majority went up from 400 to 4200. I was told in 2017 five days before the general election I was going to double my majority – it went all the way down to 900. So the polling, the biggest and most important poll of course yet happens on Thursday and there is all to play for, I really do believe that.

SR: If you don’t do as well as you hope in the European elections, indeed if you don’t win any seats, is that it for Change UK?

ANNA SOUBRY: Absolutely not as far as I’m concerned. As I say, I believe there is a real thirst out in the country to get back to that centrist, moderate, progressive form of politics, accepting that British politics is broken, that the majority of those political parties, all of them are part of that breaking and none of them are actually offering up the solutions that we need to mend the divisions in our country, to sort out Brexit and tackle all the big burning issues that are out there.

SR: One person who perhaps doesn’t quite share your optimism is one of your candidates, Rachel Johnson. Have a little look at what Rachel Johnson said, she’s your top candidate in the south-west and she said, “Change UK is a terrible name, I’m jumping on another sinking ship with Change UK. We hope it’s not sinking but it’s not riding the ocean waves. I think it will be a slow build, a reverse Macron.”

ANNA SOUBRY: Well look, I can’t speak for Rachel, she is a Johnson, they have a bit of a history of saying stuff. I’ll tell you what though, I’d rather have her than Boris.

SR: But it’s not very helpful though, saying that.

ANNA SOUBRY: Look, everybody is entitled to their own opinion. Our most important thing is our strong message and that is what voters absolutely know and understand. We believe in a People’s Vote, we believe in remaining in the European Union, we believe the best deal is the current deal that we have with the European Union and on that she and I and in fact everybody else, unlike any other party, are absolutely agreed.

SR: She also said it was a mistake not to ally more closely with some of the other Remain parties like the Lib Dems?

ANNA SOUBRY: We do work with all these parties, we have been doing that through the People’s Vote campaign and that’s why I …

SR: But at the beginning Change UK didn’t did they? If you look back for example at some of the things that Chris Leslie has said, he was pretty dismissive.

ANNA SOUBRY: I think we really have to be very honest about this, Sophy. I took the view that my party, the Conservative party, had left me, I didn’t leave them. My values, my principles, were exactly the same. I had worked with people like Chris and Chukka of course in the People’s Vote campaign which was always cross-party, great way to work and we’ve done that extremely successfully and when I was looking at what to do next, I looked at obviously the Lib Dems, I looked at just sitting as an Independent …

SR: So you did consider joining the Lib Dems then?

ANNA SOUBRY: Well the first political party I ever joined was the Liberals and of course I worked with the Lib Dems in government, to the point where people like Jo Swinson I consider a friend. I looked at all of that and I took the very firm view, one that British politics is broken and that includes all the parties. Secondly, the people I actually have more in common with are people like Chukka and Chris and Gavin and Luciana, Mike Gapes, those are the people I have more in common with and we want to create something new. We want to deliver the change that as I say, I believe millions of people in our country are crying out for.

SR: There have been rumours haven’t there that Heidi Allen is actually considering a flirtation with the Liberal Democrats?

ANNA SOUBRY: I find that quite remarkable and I think most importantly, let’s talk about these elections on Thursday, let’s talk about the great issues that are out there, let’s talk about Brexit, let’s talk about what we’re going to do as we face what I believe will be a national crisis amounting to an emergency as we go towards the end of October with that cliff edge there. We heard it with Steve Barclay’s interview that he did with you where he and other government ministers, contenders for this leadership in the Conservative party, make it very clear that it will be no-deal and in the event of no-deal I’m going to put my country first and I won’t hesitate to say that in the event of no-deal we have got to revoke. We have got to stop this thing that is destroying British business, that is blighting our politics and is desperately affecting the credibility of this country abroad.

SR: I mean no-deal, if you believe some of the Conservatives, could happen sooner than we think …

ANNA SOUBRY: Absolutely.

SR: Boris Johnson was saying there was going to be a decision between revoke or no-deal if that deal doesn’t go through, so if the Withdrawal Agreement fails to pass again in June, will Change UK then back revoke?

ANNA SOUBRY: Oh if it’s a question between no-deal and revoke, absolutely. No-deal would be catastrophic for this country. Who says so? This government. Its own impact assessments have shown that it would be a catastrophe, it would be profoundly bad for our country and you have got to put the country’s interests first and in that instance – and we have talked about this before because we had a variety of debates, as you know, we’ve had legislation and I put forward an amendment that said that in the event of these things, revoke has got to be a realistic option and I would vote to revoke, for our country to leave without a deal would be a disgrace as it would not be in anybody’s interests in this country. Also I really do believe that the majority of British people did not vote for us to leave without a deal. In fact they were promised we would have a deal before we left. Theresa hasn’t got a deal, she has got this Withdrawal Agreement, it is not the deal we were promised but the idea that we leave without any deal and a threat to peace in Northern Ireland, the damage to jobs, to our economy is so great and we should revoke and stop this whole madness because that would be the stuff of economic madness.

SR: Okay, clearly not everyone agrees with that assessment but Anna Soubry, thank you very much for coming on the programme this morning.