Victoria Derbyshire Trolls Richard Holden Over Business Support For UK-EU Deal: 'Are They All Wrong?'

Victoria Derbyshire trolled Tory frontbencher Richard Holden as she listed the support in the business community for the government’s deal with the EU.

The Newsnight presenter asked Holden “are they all wrong” after the Conservatives accused Keir Starmer of “surrendering” to Brussels.

The prime minister unveiled moves to slash trade barriers between Britain and the bloc at a summit in London on Monday as he ripped up the previous deal struck by Boris Johnson.

Although he has been accused of “betrayal” by both the Tories and Reform UK, the agreement has been welcomed by numerous industry bodies, who say it will make it easier for them to do business with Europe.

Derbyshire asked shadow paymaster general Holden: “Would you say the Conservative Party are still the party of business?”

After he said they “certainly are”, the presenter said: “Before you go on, the reason I ask is because on today’s deal, the Federation of Small Businesses like the deal, the CBI likes the deal, the British Chambers of Commerce like it, the Food and Drink Federation like it, UK Hospitality likes it, Salmon Scotland likes it, the British Meat Processors Association likes it, Morrisons supermarket likes it. Are they all wrong?”

Holden replied: “What I would say is, the huge amount of this, we’re still waiting for the detail of it, actually.”

After Derbyshire asked again if all those organisations are wrong, the former Tory chairman said: “You can welcome things in the abstract, but actually most of this deal hasn’t been agreed.

“The only thing that we’ve got concretely really agreed today is about those fishing quotas, and we’ve already heard the quote from the Scottish Fishing Association saying this is absolutely horrendous for their sector.

“We will have to see down the line what is agreed by this government, because we know that they tend to say one thing in public at the start and then something completely different happens.”