Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

To all the downvoters: they even openly kind-of-admit it, I've now got proof from the mouth of Matt Hancock, UK health secretary: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/02/hancock-brexit...

Money Quote: "...because of Brexit we’ve been able to make a decision to do this based on the UK regulator, a world-class regulator, and not go at the pace of the Europeans, who are moving a little bit more slowly."




The BBC's fact check column noticed that too and confirmed there was no truth to it: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/55163730


Interesting. However, this does not undermine my original claim - actually I think it even increases its viability. The undisputable fact that several UK officials specifically praise Brexit as the enabler for this quick approval process, even though it actually was not necessary at all (which they possibly even knew in the first place), increases the likelihood that there was at least some political motivation behind the quick approval move. Whether the statements of the politicians are true or not does not matter with regard to the PR value of them; the only thing that matters is what the general public knows, and not knowing that the UK could have made a national approval even if still part of the EU is probably widespread.


The EU already clarified that each member state is free to grant emergency approvals. So the UK could have done what they did while inside the EU.




Consider applying for YC's Spring batch! Applications are open till Feb 11.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: