CENTRAL Devon MP Mel Stride was interviewed by Andrew Neil on the BBC Daily Politics show on Wednesday, March 7, in his ministerial role as Financial Secretary to the Treasury.

After backing the Foreign Secretary’s statement that the UK will respond “robustly” if it emerges that Russia was complicit in the attempted murder of a former Russian spy and his daughter in Salisbury on Sunday, Mr Stride spoke about securing an agreement on Financial Services within any Brexit deal.

Arguing that this was both within the EU’s interest and the UK’s interest, Mr Stride said: “The City of London is a major financial provider to the whole of Europe, providing competitive finance that supports European businesses and consumers and the EU will be as concerned as we are that this continues.

“The EU won’t go down the road of trying to fragment that business as it won’t ultimately benefit Paris and Frankfurt but Hong Kong, New York and Singapore.”

Other issues Mr Stride spoke on during the interview included homelessness, the humanitarian crisis in Yemen and the state visit of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.