Ms Tominey suggested leaving the EU has allowed the UK to ramp up its vaccine programme to administer the jab to “more people, more quickly”.
She said: “We have a situation where the British were a good customer to AstraZeneca because they ordered early, they were specific about how many they wanted.
“There’s a clause in the contract which states that the UK factories, which to be fair to Britain they set up really quickly, should be the first to prioritise British vaccines.
“And equally, by comparison, even though there were member states clamouring for information on where they were getting vaccines from, the EU dithered and delayed, so frankly, being removed from that situation due to Brexit has had a bonus for Britain, in this particular instance.
“I don’t think we can deny that with the evidence we are faced with now. We are vaccinating far more people, more quickly, than other EU member states.
“And I think there are people in the EU who have been questioning the protectionist approach of Brussels in this.“
