We must defeat Theresa May’s wretched Brexit deal and go out into the world with hope and imagination David Davis
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/12/08/must-defeat-theresa-mays-wretched-brexit-deal-go-world-hope/
This week’s meaningful vote on the Prime Minister’s Withdrawal Agreement marks a watershed moment in British politics. Parliament will decide on the UK’s future relationship with the European Union for a generation to come. That’s not hype. This is the decisive moment.
We are being asked to shackle ourselves to a deal which hands over £39 Billion without anything guaranteed in return, which allows the European Court of Justice to continue to interfere in British law and our daily lives, and which breaks the Conservative manifesto promise to leave the customs union. As Margaret Thatcher once said “No, No, No.”
There is an alternative. We can stop grappling and start grasping the global opportunities available to the UK. The real Brexit prize is the opportunity to go out into the world and agree free trade deals with old friends and new allies.
The UK’s biggest export market is the United States, worth over £110 billion a year. That is almost double our next biggest trading partner, Germany. Our trade with the United States, China and Australia far exceeds our trade with Germany, France and the Netherlands. When we traded primarily in bulky goods, such as coal or steel, our closest trading partners were often our biggest. This is no longer the case. Distance is dead.
The world is changing rapidly, and the UK must keep up. We have to look beyond Europe and seize the opportunities Brexit presents for us to be a truly Global Britain. Let’s not restrict ourselves to obsessive discussion of EU internal market or tie ourselves in knots as to how future trade will be conducted within the EU.
Aside from a global trade deal, Brexit brings a host of new opportunities. We have the opportunity to scrap the Common Agricultural Policy and the Common Fisheries Policy, allowing us to better support farmers, fishermen and consumers, and prioritise animal welfare.
We are a world leader in several emerging sectors including artificial intelligence, life sciences and information technology. These are the sectors of the future, and the UK is well poised to take advantage.
But if we remain tied to EU rules and within the EU’s orbit we will not remain a global leader for long. The EU will seek to reign in our competitive advantage with stifling regulations. Imagine being a global power in an emerging industry but having no power to set the rules.
We cannot allow ourselves to be bound by the EU’s stifling bureaucracy. Nobody is calling for a Wild West of deregulation. But we can have smarter, more sensible rules that create a fertile environment for our industries to thrive.
There are historical portents for the Prime Minister if she carries on regardless. On the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, a Conservative Government remained dogmatic and obstinate. Interest rates rose as high as 15 per cent, and the Conservatives lost their reputation for economic competence in a single day. Our poll ratings did not recover until the late 2000s.
As a Whip, I saw first-hand the devastation wrought on our party by a Conservative Government forcing the Maastricht Treaty through the House of Commons. The legacy of mistrust continued for many years.
On Iraq, an embattled Prime Minister sought to hoodwink the British public by relaying warnings on weapons of mass destruction which simply did not stand up to the intelligence. Blair told Parliament that the intelligence was “extensive, detailed and authoritative”. Instead it was, in truth, “sporadic, patchy and limited”. He also built a cross party alliance because he could not railroad his own Party. I’m afraid the parallels with the present are uncanny.
I’ve been scrupulously loyal and supportive to the Prime Minister. I was one of the first to arrive in to Downing Street following the disappointment of the General Election result in 2017. I offered her my support and strenuously encouraged her to complete the job we were both committed to – delivering what the people had voted for in 2016. A real Brexit that took back control over borders, laws and money.
I’m afraid the path she has chosen has not delivered on that pledge, and is now forcing Parliament to vote on a flawed prospectus.
It is extremely likely that the Commons vote will go against the deal on Tuesday. I say, with immense regret, that this will reflect on the direction the Government has taken. It is apparent that we badly need to refresh, renew and unite. With a new platform, we can negotiate a better future for the UK, we can return control to the British people and we can focus on the concerns of families across the country. We can talk again of lower taxes, higher returns for people’s enterprise and initiative.
We need to offer hope, vision, imagination. A new strategy.
Next Tuesday is make or break. We must turn our backs on the past, defeat this wretched deal and get on with the future.
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