The European Union’s decision to introduce a new visa scheme for British travelers entry the bloc has been called out by Jeremy Vine guest Carole Malone. The panellist argued the move to impose visa charges was “odd” given that a number of European member states are heavily reliant on British tourists. Ms Malone clashed with political commentator Owen Jones who argued the decision of Brussels was justified because Britain was no longer an EU member.
Ms Malone told Jeremy Vine: “This is spite and divisiveness on the part of the EU.
“And it is a very odd move considering that a lot of the country within the EU are very dependent on UK traffic for holidays.
“They are very dependent on tourism.”
Jones fired back: “Freedom of movement has ended.
“One of the main reasons people voted to leave the European Union was to end freedom of movement.
“Freedom of movement is now ending and the quid pro quo of that is we are not members of the European Union and we are now subject to visa charges.
“If you are not members…it is the same as other countries,” added the pundit.
“There are several other countries on the planet where in order to enter you have to pay a visa charge.”
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He added: “But I think people have got to stop pretending it’s a cost–free exercise where all the things people wanted to leave happen under no costs.
“So all the reasons they voted for Brexit, and there are lots of legitimate reasons why people did vote to leave the EU.
“I’m not a big fan of the EU – I voted remain on balance, but this is what people said would happen.
Jones concluded: “We’re not a member of the European Union anymore.”