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11 Mar, 2019 12:47

Ex-minister McVey mercilessly mocked after claiming EU would force UK to adopt euro after 2020

Ex-minister McVey mercilessly mocked after claiming EU would force UK to adopt euro after 2020

A former Tory government minister has been ridiculed on social media after tweeting an article asserting that the EU will force the UK to join the eurozone after 2020 if it remains a member – a claim that is demonstrably false.

Former work and pensions secretary Esther McVey, who resigned from PM Theresa May’s government in November over Brexit, posted a now-deleted tweet with a link to a 2014 Daily Telegraph piece titled: “After 2020, all EU members will have to adopt the euro.”

Are the public aware of this? And the many other things the EU has planned for its member states after 2020? #trust #WatchOut

It transpires that, according to the current EU treaty governing the UK’s opt-out of the euro, it is not obliged or committed to adopt the currency without a separate decision taken by its government or parliament.

READ MORE: ‘My deal or no deal’: May defends Brexit divorce plan amid MP rebellion & cabinet resignations

McVey has been hit with an avalanche of tweets criticizing and mocking her false assertions, with #McVeyFacts trending with some hilarious erroneous “facts” and memes. Others focused on her apparent hypocrisy on the issue of “trust in our politicians.”

McVey has ostensibly tried to gloss over the incident with a follow-up tweet noting that not everyone agreed with the article she posted. A number of journalists have slammed the pro-Brexit Tory MP for Tatton for not apologizing after making the incorrect claim.

Sky News Europe Correspondent Mark Stone asked McVey whether she was really that “ignorant” or whether she had “knowingly” misled the public.

McVey endured a turbulent time as work and pensions minister. In July 2018, many opposition MPs called for her dismissal after she admitted making “inadvertently misleading” statements about Universal Credit – the government’s flagship social welfare reform policy – in parliament.

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