EU loving Labour peer Lord Adonis is accused of not preparing for Brexit — despite being in charge of infrastructure
Reviewing the border system and British ports are not seen as infrastructure priorities according to Adonis' commission
THE LABOUR peer overseeing the UK’s infrastructure is not prepared for Brexit, claim Tories.
Furious Tory MPs said it defied belief that arch Europhile Lord Adonis had not commissioned a single report in two years on Brexit as head of the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC).
The NIC has produced work on “smart” power and is studying the potential of the Cambridge to Milton Keynes and Oxford corridor.
But it doesn’t list Brexit and reviewing either border systems or British ports as one of TWELVE priorities.
Tory backbencher Charlie Elphicke said: “Brexit is the most important national project since the Second World War.
“Yet rather than focusing on Brexit the NIC’s priorities include renewable energy and the eastern crossings of the River Thames.”
He added: “Lord Adonis seems more interested in reversing the EU referendum than preparing for Brexit.
“We cannot have a situation where a holder of a senior Government job attacks members of the Government in the way he has over Brexit.”
The row comes just days after Lord Adonis sparked outrage by attacking Brexit Secretary David Davis’ negotiating strategy – and laying out his vision to “defeat” Brexit. The astonishing outburst followed fury in July when the peer compared Brexit to Nazi appeasement.
High profile Tory MPs last week called for him to be sacked and urged Theresa May to take action. Tory backbencher Nadine Dorries said he should be replaced by “someone far more competent and bought in-to enacting the will and democratic vote of millions of people”.
Lord Adonis said: “The biggest infrastructure crisis Britain faces is the failure to expand Heathrow, which is even more vital after Brexit so we can trade with the wider world.
“The National Infrastructure Commission has been saying this since it was set up two years ago, but the Government consistently refuses to take a decision.”
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A NIC spokesman said: “Lord Adonis provides independent advice to the Government on infrastructure, in his capacity as Chair of the National Infrastructure Commission.
“In this task he works with a high calibre board of commissioners with a breadth of views and experience, and by the NIC secretariat. Lord Adonis’ personal views on issues that fall outside of the NIC’s remit have no bearing on his work to secure for Britain the infrastructure that we need.”