Theresa May is currently facing a race against time to come up with a Brexit Plan B after her deal was rejected by 230 votes – the largest defeat for a sitting government in history. With only 70 days to work together with opposition parties, pressure is growing on Mrs May to find a way out of the crisis that has engulfed the nation. Despite growing uncertainty, Britain is still scheduled to leave the EU on March 29.
If arrangements are not in place, experts have warned that the UK’s failure to secure a deal could lead to catastrophic consequences including travel chaos and food shortages.
However, if the UK left with no-deal, Britain would no longer be part of the EU’s regulatory regime – which, according to former Ukip MP Douglas Carswell, even cost people their lives.
In his 2017 book “Rebel: How to Overthrow the Emerging Oligarchy”, Mr Carswell claimed the bloc had ulterior motives for introducing rules to promote diesel cars.
The politician wrote: “As a direct result of EU rules, there was a massive switch in the European car market from the late 1990s towards diesel engines.
“In the mid-1990s, less than one in ten cars sold in the UK was diesel. By 2012, it was over half.
“Why did EU officials encourage this drive for diesel?
“It was to help the environment, apparently.
“Diesel emits marginally less Carbon Dioxide than petrol [so] forcing EU consumers to make the switch would cut [emissions].”
However, Mr Carswell claimed the environment was only a “pretext” as the “real reason why European car-makers had lobbied the EU institutions to rig the rules in favour of diesel was because it suited their commercial self-interest”.
He explained: “German car-makers in particular had a technical advantage over their rivals when it came to diesel engines.
“If they could make Europeans buy more diesel, they would do better agains their non-European competitors.”
The former Ukip MP also pointed out that diesel is far from being better for the environment as it is actually “much dirtier”.
He concluded: “Thanks to the new rules, European cities like London now have dangerous levels of nitrogen dioxide.
“Europeans have died as a direct consequence of the change.”