has offered an emphatic endorsement of Britain’s decision to leave five years after the landmark decision to quit the bloc was finally ratified.
Mr Baker, who was until the last election the , was a familiar figure in the furious debate which raged after the 2016 referendum which ultimately took the UK out of the .
And in a clip uploaded to X, the former minister and chairman of the European Research Group, made it clear his commitment has not wavered even slightly.
He said: “About this time of year for the last five years, I’ve been asked about the anniversary of our exit from the .
“I do notice that something’s changed this year: I’m being asked, was it worth it Steve?
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Steve Baker said his commitment to Brexit has not wavered (Image: Steve Baker )
“So I thought, in all humility, I’d read something by an author who voted Remain, and here it is. It’s Utopia by Ross Clark, and it’s got some really meticulous analysis of the economic impact of , particularly in comparison to Treasury forecasts and what was said during the Remain campaign.”
Mr Baker goes on to say that the book reveals that the UK’s “sluggishness” but refelcts a long term “malaise” across the bloc.
He said: “On Page 15, it says Britain’s sluggishness is not the result of leaving the EU, the malaise merely reflects what has been happening across Europe for many years”.
“And I can tell you from looking at the figures, that is absolutely true. If you want to know what’s going wrong, please do have a look at John Moynihan’s Return to Growth, another really meticulous analysis of our economic problems.”
He added: “Unfortunately, the and the UK have been running a policy of effectively, social democracy, which we can’t afford, and that’s now coming home to roost, whatever Chancellor Rachel Reeves says today.”
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Steve Baker and other so-called Spartans leave No.10 in 2019 (Image: Getty)
And, says Mr Baker, that he would still back leaving the EU as he thinks it was a decision that will pay dividends in the long run.
He said: “So I’m sorry, folks, yes, it was worth it, it really was worth it, and it is going to make possible doing those difficult things, which are just going to prove necessary to make sure that we can have a much brighter future of economic growth and prosperity.
“And it will be a future outside the , and I hope that we will show the whole of Europe the way to save themselves by following our example.”
Mr Baker was famously relentless in his efforts to get Conservative MPs to vote against then PM Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement, seeing it as a betrayal of the referendum result.
The Brexit referendum triggered vast protests involving both sides of the debate (Image: Getty)
In the end, his group’s stubborn resistance played a major role in her downfall and helped pave the way for to take over, promising a tougher stance on .
In the process his name because synonymous with the so-called “Spartans”, the 28 Tory MPs refused to support May’s deal, even when others in the party started to waver.
While some saw them as reckless for risking a chaotic no-deal , Mr Baker and his allies saw themselves as were defending the country from being tied indefinitely to Brussels’ rules.
Over time, Baker, who after losing his seat last year launched a new consultancy offering advice to businesses, along with LSE professor Paul Dolan, acquired a tongue-in-cheek reputation as the “hard man of ”.
Even after the UK formally left, he kept pushing to make sure the break was as complete as possible, particularly when it came to the Northern Ireland Protocol, which he feared risked tying the nation to Brussels rules and regulations.
In February 2020 – barely two weeks after Britain formally left – he told Express.co.uk: “There is no current sign that the Government is working to replace the Northern Ireland Protocol with the alternative arrangements, which would get rid of differential treatment for Northern Ireland.
Then-Prime Minister Theresa May in 2019 (Image: Getty)
“What the Northern Ireland Protocol does is give the EU the assurance that Northern Ireland effectively works as a kind of hybrid for economic purposes, a kind of hybrid part of the customs union and the economic area, that’s what it amounts to.
“And so it means that Northern Ireland is treated differently within that protocol.
“What we need to do is avoid Northern Ireland being left there forever.”
The Northern Ireland Protocol was effectively replaced by the Windsor Framework, agreed upon by the UK and the EU in February 2023.
The Windsor Framework aims to address the issues created by the Protocol, particularly concerning the movement of goods between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, and the governance of the region post-.
Despite this agreement, there is still wrangling over its practical implementation, with some Unionist politicians in Northern Ireland, including the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), argue that it does not fully restore Northern Ireland’s place in the UK’s internal market.