Stuttering Labour minister 'can't answer' simple question in tense Sky News debate

anchor Wilfred Frost grilled minister Sarah Jones on the latest developments on the UK-EU trade agreement. The UK and the EU have agreed to a new trade deal five years after Brexit came into effect.

Sir Keir Starmer promised a fresh deal when he with the EU when he came into power last July, and after six months of talks, the two sides have finally come to an agreement on Monday (May 19). Following the news, the broadcaster quizzed the Labour Ministry for Industry about how much it would cost for Brits to access the UK. And it's fair to say the TV presenter didn't go easy on her as he bombarded her with tough hitting questions on the news programme.

He began the interview by asking whether British companies would have to pay to access defence spending. The 39-year-old asked: "Access for UK companies to this €150bn defence spending, do we have to pay into that budget to get access to that?"

She replied: "This is important because there's been pushback from people like the Conservatives who don't understand how these things work, we are not paying through any of this for access to markets, that is not what we are doing. We are not rejoining the EU.

"Where we will pay - and these things will be negotiated - are through our joint costs that will need to be paid, so if you look at the Horizon scheme for example, there are costs."

He pushed: "But specifically on defence?" but she quickly shut down his line of questioning. She replied: "I'm not going to give you an answer because where there are costs, we will negotiate and pay them, and where there aren't we won't."

Determined to get an answer, Wilfred asked: "How much?" but she refused to give viewers a straight answer. She fumed: "I can't give you that answer. I won't give you that answer on things like energy and defence."

She added that if aspects of the trade and defence deal do not benefit the UK, then the UK will not participate in it. It didn't take long before fans flooded to X - formerly known as Twitter - to air their frustrations online.

One user penned: "If you don't know the cost, how can you say it's worth it? Proper answers need proper figures, not just vague hand-waving."

Another agreed: "She's a liar" as a third echoed: "What use is she then?" Meanwhile another believed in the new trade deal and agrued: "So decided/ negotiated on a case-by-case basis. And if we don't benefit overall we won't do it. Freedom and benefits sound good to me."