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Published: 12:04 PM August 31, 2018 Updated: 6:33 PM September 17, 2020

Former government minister John Whittingdale has been slammed for claiming Brexit wouldn't be a disaster – on the same day that Panasonic announced it was moving out of the UK.

Whittingdale told Channel 4 News that he didn't think Brexit was bad for Britain, but claimed that 'there was always going to be some short-term disruption' when the country leaves the European Union.

He said: 'Obviously Panasonic have decided to move some employees overseas. I think that's a pity but I will continue to make the case as to why, whatever kind of arrangement we agree with the European Union, Britain is still in a very good place to centre international business activity.'

However presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy was not convinced by the Leave Means Leave backer's argument.

Mocking Whittingdale's response he asked: 'So no deal is somewhere between a pity and a disaster?'

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He added: 'The trouble is that as people like you keep telling us that it doesn't matter if we have no deal, international businesses are voting with their feet like Panasonic today.'

Earlier this week Theresa May set the bar low for Brexit by claiming that a no deal 'wouldn't be the end of the world'.

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