[Cuomo:] There's a lot of uncertainty going on after Brexit, but certain things are certain. The British government is in turmoil after this vote to leave the European Union. Many in the pro- Brexit camp are fending off accusations that they won on the strength of promises that they now can't deliver on. Let's discuss with Ray Finch, a member of European Parliament for the U.K. Independence Party. He joins us from Brussels. What do you make, sir, of this baseline concern that the campaign for Brexit harnessed the anger and frustration of people by making promises that now fall short?
[Ray Finch, European Parliament Members, U.k. Independence Party:] First thing, good morning, Chris. What is it is there are people that are expecting everything right now. There are always negotiations in any period and there are always periods with uncertainty in those negotiations.I, for one, am absolutely convinced and confident that we will have a situation where Britain can move forward safety, prosperously, and friends with our European neighbors.
[Cuomo:] What is the concern, though, when you hear Farage say, as you know, so big a part of the campaign for Brexit was look at all this money we'll be able to dedicate to the NHS to our National Health Service and then for him to say well, I never said that. I don't know what we'll do with the money but we'll have money now to play with a featherbed that we didn't have before. That was a pretty fundamental underpinning of the persuasion campaign. Now it seems like he won't be able to deliver. Fair criticism?
[Finch:] Well, first thing, Nigel Farage isn't in a position to deliver. The delivery will be by the conservative government. However, you're misrepresenting, I feel, perhaps, in this elite, what Nigel actually said. He said we can spend more money. We can spend some of these savings on the NHS. And it's not just going to be, you know, the actual money we send to Brussels, it will be all the other things that can come with that. And we will be able to spend more on the NHS. We will be able to spend on the things that matter to the United Kingdom and to its people. There is no question of that. However, as with all things, it is a sense that you need time to work it all out, and that's all it is.
[Cuomo:] Do you believe there is a plan because time is always useful is you know what to do with that time?
[Finch:] Yes, yes, there are plans for if you're sitting there playing poker, do you let the other chap see your hand? No, you don't.
[Cuomo:] But it's not poker anymore. You've won the game and people want to see what your cards are, right? You won the bluff game, the other side folded. You won with the referendum, now we need to see your cards and know what the plan is because the reverberations are so widespread.
[Finch:] No, no, no. Unfortunately, Chris, this isn't the case. We now have to work with the European Union to get the best possible deal, both for the United Kingdom and for the European Union, as well as the wide of the world because, as you're aware, the U.K. is the world's fifth biggest economy and if we don't get a deal that's right for Britain, everybody suffers. We need to make sure we get the deal that's right for Britain because then everybody benefits.
[Cuomo:] Are you concerned about people coming to the reality that you were number five with the European Union. You'll now be negotiating deals on your own merits behind the European Union. That, literally, there is a little bit of a moving down the queue, so to speak.
[Finch:] Ha, you're going back to where Mr. Obama President Obama, and I do apologize threatened us and said we'd be at the back of the queue. Frankly, that's wrong. We are the fifth biggest economy in the world. The E.U. spent eight years on a failed attempt to do a deal with India. We can do deals all across the world in much quicker time. We know that, you know that, I know that. What we'll be is a much more agile partner with our partners all around the world and that can only be good for everyone.
[Cuomo:] Mr. Finch, when do you expect to see a settling down of this and to see the pound sterling to recover? As you know, it's even down in trading today.
[Finch:] Well, as you're aware, Chris, obviously when a currency goes up or down it favors different people. At the moment, with it dropping, it's favoring our exporters and I'm sure our exporters are very happy. At some point, you know we all know that for the last two years the pound's been more or less on a downward slope. Of course, at some point things will change round and as people believe that the pound is undervalued then they'll start to buy it again and then the pound will go up. The real the real one that you have to worry about is the E.U. What will happen to the Euro now, now that we have stopped paying so much money or we will stop paying so much money into the E.U.'s coffers? The Euro is the currency that's going to be, actually, in trouble, not the pound.