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Trevor Phillips interviews Boris Johnson on Sky News

journalismJul 19, 202620356

Trevor Phillips interviewed former prime minister Boris Johnson on Sky News in an extended discussion about Brexit and the government’s record. During the programme Johnson defended the government’s handling of Covid and Brexit but declined to directly answer whether a “Brexit bonus” explained the UK’s fast Covid vaccine approval, instead thanking the NHS and the Vaccine Taskforce. The BBC notes Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg had claimed Brexit allowed the UK to approve a vaccine faster, but the UK medicines regulator’s chief executive, Dr June Raine, said the MHRA authorised supply using emergency provisions in European law that apply during the post-Brexit transition period until 1 January. The BBC report adds the European Medicines Agency has not yet approved a coronavirus vaccine and that the MHRA chose a faster licensing route than the EMA while saying its speed depended on available data and independent advice. The report concludes that the faster UK approval was not dependent on Brexit because EU law already allowed national emergency use, a point the MHRA explicitly confirmed.