Boris Johnson doubles down on Brexit decision and denies Britain is 'worse off' 10 years on: 'Complete cobblers!'

Discussing the 10th anniversary of the Brexit referendum, Mr Johnson said that in the "short term", it was the "right decision".

He told GB News: "I think in the short term it's been the right thing to do, but I think in the long term they will judge that the UK, when you look at the plan to create a federal Europe and you look at what the agenda actually entails of building a single political entity out of very different countries, I think people will say, well, it was right for the UK, which is a European country, quintessentially a European country in many ways.

"But it was right for the UK, which has an ancient parliamentary democracy, has huge global interest, has an enormous British diaspora around the world, not just in Europe, and huge trading interests around the world. It was right for us."

As Christopher argued that critics would say Britain is "worse off" as a result, Mr Johnson declared the argument "complete cobblers".

He said: "Insofar as the UK economy has underperformed in the last couple of years, that is entirely thanks to the catastrophic policies of the Labour Government.

"If you put up National Insurance contributions in the way that they do, if you clobber wealth creators, if you drive entrepreneurs abroad by their thousands.

Boris Johnson has doubled down on the UK's Brexit deal as he marks the 10th anniversary of the referendum

GB NEWS

"I go around the world and meet people who are weeping because they want to live in this country but simply can't, and it's a catastrophe."

Reflecting on the deal 10 years on, the former Prime Minister said that the negotiations were "hard to do", but they "got Brexit done".

He said: "We're 10 years on now, and what happened ultimately is that the Government that I led, we delivered Brexit and we delivered what was a hard Brexit.

"It was pretty hard, it was hard to negotiate, hard to do. But basically it meant that we took back control of our laws, of our borders, of our money, and we have full constitutional independence again."

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the Brexit referendum

PA

Mr Johnson made clear: "And I think that in a 21st century economy, a 22nd century economy, that is going to be very important for a country like ours.

"You need to have flexibility, you need to have agility, and I think people are happier if they feel that they're in control of their lives, and if they feel that the politicians they elect can actually do what they say."

Reflecting on the infamous Brexit bus, Mr Johnson admitted to Christopher Hope the "numbers were wrong".

He explained: "I think now is the time to admit that the bus, the numbers on the bus, were wrong.

"They were an underestimate, it was too low. Seriously, when you now look at it, if we'd stayed in, we would have been on £450million a week at least, and that's quite serious amount of dosh. You can build a pretty big hospital for £100million."

Grilled on the so-called "Boris wave" of migration after Brexit, Mr Johnson said it is "total rubbish" that he allowed "millions to arrive legally through the front door".

He told GB News: "When you look at what actually happened, when we came out of the EU, we took back full legal control, so the first year of my premiership we had the lowest immigration for 40 years.

"And then what actually happened was I'm afraid that the system believed the rubbish Remain propaganda that everybody had fled the UK."