'Bombarded by lies': London MPs rage against Brexit as Sadiq Khan leads growing calls to rejoin EU

Read the original at Evening Standard ↗
Evening Standard · collected 2026-10-13 · by Nicholas Cecil

Quick Summary

London MPs are expressing strong opposition to Brexit, citing negative economic impacts and misinformation from the Leave campaign in 2016. Labour MPs like Deirdre Costigan and Tulip Siddiq describe how local businesses have suffered due to increased bureaucracy and decreased sales since leaving the EU. For instance, a kitchen designer had to close his family business after a severe downturn in sales attributed to Brexit, while another florist faced higher costs for tulips due to post-Brexit regulations. MPs also note that younger voters now support rejoining the EU.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-13, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

London MPs, including Deirdre Costigan, Tulip Siddiq, and Ben Coleman, are strongly criticizing the Brexit process. They argue that their constituents were misled by false claims such as the £350 million a week for the NHS, which never materialized, and exaggerated promises about reducing immigration, which instead tripled post-Brexit. Labour MP Costigan specifically noted that many of her constituents voted to leave the EU due to misinformation. Siddiq highlighted severe economic impacts on local businesses in Ealing Southall, like Neil Lerner’s kitchen design business, which closed after 30 years due to reduced sales caused by Brexit. Additionally, a local bakery reported paperwork doubling before closing because of Brexit bureaucracy. Furthermore, John Atkins, who ran a flower stall near the Royal Free hospital for almost 40 years, pointed out that the cost of tulips has increased by 50% since 2020 due to post-Brexit regulations.

Written for “Brexit Criticism” on 2026-10-13, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The article's own words the score was based on. Each is quoted verbatim and was checked against the article text before being stored, so you can find it in the original.
Reading Leans strongly left (beta estimate) Confidence high 2 quote(s) discarded as not found in the article
Leaning: leans strongly left for article 75876 (high confidence, 1 verified quote) · logged 2026-10-13

Story

📰 Brexit Criticism
Politics · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans strongly left and hedges 7% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Evening Standard
⚖️ Leans left further right than this 🔴 21% hedged 3 of 14 📰 publisher trust 66
“The articles describe different events, one focusing on Burnham's address in support of a closer relationship with the EU and the other reporting reactions from London MPs regarding Brexit.”
The Guardian
⚖️ Leans left further right than this 🔴 18% hedged 14 of 80 📰 publisher trust 69
“The articles discuss different aspects of political reactions towards Brexit and relations with the EU, but do not describe the same specific incident or occurrence.”
Evening Standard
⚖️ Leans left further right than this 🔴 5% hedged 1 of 22 📰 publisher trust 66
“The articles cover related discussions about rejoining the EU but describe different aspects and involve different MPs speaking on separate occasions.”
Evening Standard
⚖️ Leans left further right than this 🔴 40% hedged 2 of 5 📰 publisher trust 66
“Article A discusses Burnham urging MPs to support a closer relationship with the EU, while Article B covers London MPs expressing frustration with Brexit and calls to rejoin the EU.”
The Guardian
⚖️ Leans left further right than this 🔴 3% hedged 1 of 34 📰 publisher trust 69
“The articles discuss different aspects of UK politics and do not describe the same specific incident or occurrence.”
Evening Standard
⚖️ Leans left further right than this 🔴 12% hedged 3 of 24 📰 publisher trust 66
“The articles discuss different aspects of the political discourse around Brexit and relations with the EU, rather than a single specific incident or speech.”
BBC News
⚖️ Leans strongly left 🔴 17% hedged 3 of 18 📰 publisher trust 72
“The articles discuss different aspects of political sentiment towards the EU and Brexit, not a single specific incident or speech.”

Cite this article

Cecil, N. (2026, October 13). 'Bombarded by lies': London MPs rage against Brexit as Sadiq Khan leads growing calls to rejoin EU. Evening Standard. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/brexit-lies-london-mps-rage-sadiq-khan-rejoin-eu-b1300555.html

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
15
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
7%
1 of 15 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans strongly left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
66/100
Evening Standard's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-13 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Evening Standard · 4878 article(s) · 41 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 41 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Nicholas Cecil
63 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 She stressed: “Many of my constituents voted to leave the EU because they were bombarded with lies, from the mythical £350 million a week for the NHS that never appeared to the lie that immigration would come down when it actually trebled.”
🔮 It highlighted the threat of more tax rises, which would almost certainly hit London hardest, or welfare cuts on a scale already rejected by Labour MPs, or Prime Minister Andy Burnham imposing significant cuts to public services which would be a highly surprising move.
🔮 The result shows that the Green Party is now a political force in London, especially after its success at the May local elections.
🔮 The former bus driver allegedly entered a Sainsburys Local in Willesden three times between 6pm and 8.45pm from which he is barred under a criminal behaviour order ban.
🔮 In his letter, DCS Williams said: “The Met has repeatedly raised concerns that placing more criminals within the community comes with significant risks to victims and places more costs onto policing. “
🔮 Ministers have also admitted that the taxpayer could be left footing a bill for the controversial plan to expand the west London airport and are seeking guidance on “the Government exposure to programme costs and risks”.
🔮 But events at the Green Party’s conference, where members voted over the weekend to define Zionism as racism leading to Mr Polanski being barred from entering Israel, could have damaged his electoral prospects in north London.
🔮 Voters will go to the polls today as candidates fight to replace Sir Keir Starmer as the MP for Holborn and St Pancras.
🔮 Labour’s candidate Sagal Abdi-Wali is 1-33 favourite, followed by Green Party leader Zack Polanski on 12-1, then George Galloway, between 100-1 and 200-1 but who could still influence the election’s outcome.
🔮 In her keynote speech to the Tory annual conference in Birmingham, Mrs Badenoch was due to say that her party will fight a “battle for the soul of the nation” at the next election centred on tax-cutting promises.
Also by Nicholas Cecil
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 63 articles by Nicholas Cecil →

Topics

Brexit Ealing Southall Labour Spanish Wimbledon

Subjects

Labour ORG · 6× Wimbledon GPE · 3× Spanish NORP · 2× Deirdre Costigan PERSON · 1× Ealing Southall GPE · 1× Hampstead GPE · 1× Highgate GPE · 1× NHS ORG · 1× Tulip Siddiq PERSON · 1× the European Union ORG · 1×

Narrative

Kitchen designer Neil Lerner told me that he had to close the doors on a family business that had lasted for more than 30 years because of a severe downturn in sales caused by Brexit, a local bakery told me that its paperwork nearly doubled before it closed because of Brexit.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-13
🔮 She stressed: “Many of my constituents voted to leave the EU because they were bombarded with lies, from the mythical £350 million a week for the NHS that never appeared to the lie that immigration would come down when it actually trebled.”

Claims (15 extracted, 1 hedged)

Deirdre Costigan, Labour MP for Ealing Southall, was the first MP from the capital to lay into the Leave campaign in 2016. asserted
Costigan → lay → 2016
She stressed: “Many of my constituents voted to leave the EU because they were bombarded with lies, from the mythical £350 million a week for the NHS that never appeared to the lie that immigration would come down when it actually trebled.” asserted
it → stress → lie
Tulip Siddiq, Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate, told how 87% of her constituents voted to Remain in the European Union and explained how local businesses had been hit by splintering away from the EU. “ asserted
businesses → tell → EU
Kitchen designer Neil Lerner told me that he had to close the doors on a family business that had lasted for more than 30 years because of a severe downturn in sales caused by Brexit, a local bakery told me that its paperwork nearly doubled before it closed because of Brexit. asserted
it → tell → Brexit
“John Atkins, who ran a flower stall next to the Royal Free hospital for nearly 40 years, said that, because of post-Brexit bureaucracy, the cost of tulips has gone up by 50% since 2020.” asserted
cost → run → 2020
Ben Coleman, Labour MP for Chelsea and Fulham, told a similar story, stressing; “There is a Spanish-Italian delicatessen in my constituency and it has gaps on its shelves. asserted
it → tell → shelves
“The small supplier of this Spanish-Italian deli has had enough of the reams of EU red tape that he has had to deal with since we left.” asserted
we → have → that
Wimbledon Liberal Democrat MP Paul Kohler accused the Conservatives of being “in denial” over Brexit and its economic harm. asserted
Kohler → accuse → Brexit
Read More He said: “In south Wimbledon, a local Italian bakery La Bottega del Pane faces endless form filling. asserted
bakery → read → filling
“In Wimbledon village, the florist Gardenia of London faces similar hurdles. asserted
florist → face → hurdles
Marsha De Cordova , Labour MP for Battersea, condemned leaving the EU as “an unmitigated disaster that has left us poorer’, with the Office for Budget Responsibility saying it had wiped billions off UK trade. asserted
it → condemn → trade
Walthamstow Labour MP Stella Creasy argued for Brexit to be revisited but cautioned about the difficulties of going back into the European bloc. asserted
Brexit → argue → bloc
“The British problem is that we too often think that the difficult bit is us deciding what our future relationship with Europe should be, and then we tell the Europeans,” she said. asserted
she → think → Europeans
Helen Hayes, Labour MP for Dulwich and West Norwood, highlighted changing demographics since 2016, with more young voters who were then not able to take part in the referendum. asserted
who → highlight → referendum
Senior Tory MP Sir Bernard Jenkin, who represents Harwich and North Essex defended Brexit, saying: “The UK economy has outgrown France and Germany since we left the EU in 2021.” Mr Burnham wants to rebuild ties with Brussels, stressing that deals at a UK-EU summit on November 20 could eventually boost Britain’s economy by £10 billion a year. uncertain
deals → represent → billion
💬Give feedback
🕘History 🎫Support