Business secretary Kemi Badenoch clashed with Sky News presenter Jayne Secker over Brexit’s impact on the UK’s car industry.
The cabinet minister said “let me finish” as she tried to defend the trade deal agreed by the government with Brussels after Britain left the EU.
Car makers Ford and Stellantis have urged ministers to re-negotiate the agreement amid concerns about new rules on the export of British electric cars from the start of 2024.
“When that comes in it means [electric] cars are going to be more expensive on the showrooms here in the UK,” Secker said. “Do you think Brexit was really good for the British car industry?”
Badenoch replied: “Our trade deal with the EU has tariffs on rules of origin of car components if they’re not from the UK and the EU.
″So this is something that applies to both sides, it’s not something that applies just to UK care manufacturers, it applies to EU manufacturers.”
As the interviewer tried to make another point, Badenoch snapped: “Let me finish - you asked me the question.
″What I’ve been doing is speaking to all the manufacturers and understanding what they need, but I’ve also been speaking to the EU trade commissioner. He agrees with me, this is something that we’re working on.
“We just need to make sure that the rules that made sense when that agreement was negotiated continue to make sense as the world is changing.”
The minister said the agreement was made before Covid and the war in Ukraine, which she said had caused “supply chain disruption”.
But Secker hit back: “Let’s just be clear, if Brexit hadn’t happened, this wouldn’t be an issue in the UK.”
Badenoch replied: “If Brexit hadn’t happened we wouldn’t have had a trade deal and so we would not have had those specific rules in place, but it’s really important that we talk about these things in the round.
“There are other things which we are able to do because we left the European Union.”
Later in her broadcast media round this morning, Badenoch also clashed with Ed Balls on ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
She was repeatedly called out for refusing to offer more clarity about the UK’s current relationship with China following weekend reports of an alleged Chinese spy working in parliament.