A UK Government team set-up to promote the supposed benefits of Brexit has been slammed for costing more than £200,000 in wages.Tory grandee Jacob Rees-Mogg was appointed Minister for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency in February after he lost his previous Cabinet job as Commons leader.
The Conservative MP was one of the most vocal supporters of the UK leaving the European Union despite multiple warnings it would damage the economy.A Freedom of Information request has now revealed that Rees-Mogg has five civil servants working for him as part of his new job.The SNP said the cost of employing the five as well as the MP's ministerial salary would be £202,000.A Nationalist MSP claimed the UK Government "would be as well searching for a crock of gold at the end of a rainbow as they are looking for Brexit opportunities".Rees-Mogg was last month mocked for citing cheaper cheese and fish and chips as an examples of how Brexit was helping ordinary people.He told LBC Radio: “There was going to be an extra cost of fish fingers because of the way they are imported.“That’s a two percent increase that has been avoided.“There was going to be a 70 percent increase in the cost of some cheese coming in.”He stressed that we have “avoided” these costs “by using our Brexit freedoms, so there are savings to be had”.The Record also revealed in May how a leaked email from Rees-Mogg’s private office raised questions about his workrate.The bottom of the email stated: “The Minister does not take a box on Fridays.”SNP MSP Michelle Thomson described the money being spent on finding Brexit opportunities as "obscene".She said: "The Tories would be as well searching for a crock of gold at the end of a rainbow as they are looking for
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