Iain Duncan Smith said the Government’s failure to deliver on Brexit would go down as a huge mistake if it wasn’t addressed soon.
The ex-Conservative leader said in a wide-ranging interview with Gloria De Piero that Brexit could see the UK make the most of potentially world-leading industries it has at its disposal.
He told GB News: “We haven't delivered it in the way that we should have done.
“There's no point in leaving the European Union if you then parallel yourselves to the European Union, because you might as well have been in it.
Sir Iain says the UK is currently running 'parallel' with the EU
Image: GB News
"My answer is always with things like regulations, things like changes that are huge and could be really big, that we should have got on with it straight away.
"Notwithstanding COVID we still had that underlying agenda to deliver the benefits of Brexit. By the way, there is a huge potential industry sitting here in the UK which could dominate the world, and that's Med Tech.”
Mr Duncan Smith said experts had told him Brexit had helped deliver earlier vaccines.
“I've spoken to scientists who did the delivery of the vaccines, who realised, having voted remain, that leaving actually helped them, because we were able to make those regulation changes specifically for them. And they've said, ‘This is it, this is the biggest industry that's going to grow, it could be dominant, it's bigger than financial services, but we need regulatory change to be able to define the market’.
GB News' Gloria De Piero spoke to Iain Duncan Smith in a wide-ranging interview
Image: GB News
“Two years ago, I wrote a report for the government on this. For two years next to nothing has been done. Everyone Is distracted. But this alone could be so important to the UK.”
In a wide-ranging interview that will be screened on Sunday, Mr Duncan Smith also paid tribute to the support his wife, Elizabeth, has given him during his political career. The pair have been married for 40 years.
He said: “When I was leader, it was really tough. But she was always ready. I had this thing about speaking to my wife, at least if I was away, speaking to her every single night one way or the other. Just talking about things that she'd done, or things that I'd done during the course of the day.
“Your best critic is the person closest to you. The best thing she ever does is not pat me on the back saying how wonderful I was, which doesn't happen, by the way, very often. The best criticism is when she says, ‘I think you didn't do yourself very well on that one occasion’. And you have to take it, because she knows you better than you know yourself.”