MAY: WE HAVE NEW SENSE OF OPTIMISM ON BREXIT
THERESA May will declare today that “a new sense of optimism” surrounds the push for a Brexit deal after she secured the go-ahead for trade talks.
Facing MPs for the first time since winning backing for the crucial second phase of EU departure negotiations, the Prime Minister will say that her diplomatic achievement last Friday should dispel doubts about her ability to stay the course in the wrangle over the country’s future.
And she will insist Britain and the EU are now heading for “a partnership which can deliver prosperity and security for all our people, for generations to come”.
Mrs May will make a Commons statement following a hectic scramble last week to resolve a series of initial stumbling blocks in the Brexit talks, culminating in her early morning dash to Brussels to shake hands with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker on Friday.
Their agreement is expected to be rubber-stamped by an EU Council summit in the Belgian capital at the end of this week, allowing trade talks to begin early in the new year.
Mrs May is expected to tell MPs that her accord with Mr Juncker was achieved in the face of widespread scepticism, saying: “I know that some doubted we would reach this stage. I have always been clear that this was never going to be an easy process.
“It has required give and take for the UK and the EU to move forwards together. And that is what we have done.”
She will point out how she stuck consistently to the principles she set out in two key speeches, in London and in Florence, at crucial staging posts in the negotiations.
And looking forward to the next stage, she is expected to say: “Of course, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.
“But there is, I believe, a new sense of optimism now in the talks and I fully hope and expect that we will confirm the arrangements I have set out today in the European Council later this week.
“In doing so we can move on to building the bold new economic and security relationships that can underpin the new deep and special partnership we all want to see – partnership between the European Union and a sovereign United Kingdom that has taken control of its borders, money and laws once again.”
In a first warning shot before the next round of talks, her chief Brexit lieutenant, EU Exit Secretary David Davis, confirmed yesterday that Britain will refuse to pay a multibillion EU exit bill unless a wide-ranging trade deal with Brussels is secured.
Mrs May’s deal with Mr Juncker included paying £35-£39billion to cover Britain’s outstanding financial obligations to Brussels. But Mr Davis said: “It is conditional on getting an implementation period, conditional on a trade outcome. No deal means that we won’t be paying the money.”
Meanwhile, Mrs May stepped into an astonishing Commons clash between Chancellor Philip Hammond and Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, ordering them to calm down after they allegedly went “toe to toe” in a shouting match over possible defence cuts, say Westminster sources.
WHAT a difference a few days make. Only last Monday the Government was plunged into a dangerous crisis by the breakdown in Brexit talks. Amid intransigence from the European Union and anger from the Democratic Unionists, progress looked impossible. As the turmoil intensified there was feverish talk at Westminster about the potential collapse of Theresa May’s administration. “People don’t realise how close we came to catastrophe,” said one minister at the weekend.
Yet now the political landscape has been transformed by the deal reached early on Friday between Brussels and London. The process of Britain’s departure is back on track. As so often before the anti-Brexit doom-mongers have been proved wrong. Just as their grim warnings about economic meltdown after the referendum never materialised, so last week’s events exposed the hollowness of their claim that the PM would be incapable of reaching an agreement that could accommodate the EU, her own party and the DUP.
The PM has defied all her Remoaner critics who, with their usual contempt for the national interest, wanted her quest to end in miserable failure. Her achievement is testimony to her resilience, patience, tenacity and coolness under fire. She refused to be blown off course by the crisis but instead continued to focus on her goal.
She is like a shrewd, tough boxer who plays a long game, can absorb phenomenal amounts of punishment and then emerges triumphant in the final rounds.
IN HER stoical, determined way she seems able to cope with almost any humiliation or setback. Three times in recent months she has been through a nightmarish experience which might have finished the career of a lesser politician yet she has emerged stronger.
The first occurred after the dismal general election when it would have been easy for her to resign. But out of a sense of duty she remained at her post.
The second came during her conference speech in Manchester when she was gripped by a persistent cough. Rather than giving up in the face of this physical ordeal she fought on, earning plaudits from the public for her fortitude.
Now, despite difficult odds, she has presided over an undoubted diplomatic triumph. Remarkably she has done it without provoking any resignations from her Government over Brexit or any serious splits in her party. She has managed to hold her parliamentary ranks together. Contrary to all the forecasts of rebellion the Government has not suffered a single defeat on its formidable Brexit legislative programme.
Last week’s Brexit agreement is not ideal. Although the “divorce” bill is lower than expected it is still too large at £39billion, with the potential to rise further. Similarly the European Court of Justice will have a minor role in British life for another eight years, while the nature of Britain’s regulatory relationship with the EU has still to be settled.
But, on the more positive side, at least the path is clear for Britain. We are now heading towards independence. Our sovereignty and democracy are returning. That would not be happening if Theresa May’s Government had failed in the Brexit talks.
It must be remembered that the alternative to Brexit is not the current status quo, as the cynical, deceitful Remoaners pretend. No, if Britain stayed in the EU we would be absorbed into the European federal superstate which is now energetically under construction.
That reality was spelt out last week by Martin Schulz, the former president of the EU Parliament and leader of the German Social Democrats, who announced that by 2025 he wants “a new constitutional treaty to establish the United States of Europe”.
HIS vision of federal integration will certainly be implemented for it is shared by most western European leaders. Indeed the very existence of the EU is founded on the obliteration of traditional nationhood and sovereignty to achieve the goal of “ever closer union”.
That is what countries such as Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic are beginning to find as they are threatened with massive fines by Brussels for refusing to accept migrant quotas, even though they had no say in Angela Merkel’s ruinous and unilateral decision in 2015 to open the floodgates.
Whenever the Remoaners bleat about the threat to our economy because of Brexit they should be reminded that there would be no democratic British nation at all if they had their way. But the pro-EU brigade will not give up in their mission to undermine the cause of national freedom.
Having been thwarted over the first phase of talks they now pin their hopes on failure in the forthcoming trade negotiations. So they peddle their usual gloom with predictions of irreconcilable differences and Cabinet splits.
“Now the hard work begins,” they squawk with despondent relish. But their pessimistic narrative is wildly overblown. A commercial agreement should actually be straightforward since it is in the interests of both sides to have tariff-free, frictionless trade, especially European businesses which enjoy an £80billion surplus with Britain. Moreover, Remoaners ascribe too much strength to the EU, which is still facing huge crises such as the dysfunctional single currency and populist insurgencies.
We in Britain still face a host of obstacles before we are free once more. But the prospects of regaining our sovereignty are now much brighter than they appeared a week ago.
‘She has defied all of her Remoaner critics’