‘BREXIT PLAN DELIVERS FREEDOMS PEOPLE VOTED FOR’
PM confident of deal by November There will be no second referendum
‘I’m confident we can get a good deal. We’ve put the Chequers plan on the table and that does deliver for people’
BREXIT will give Britain the “freedom to deliver the British dream”, Theresa May says today.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Express, the Prime Minister provided her most optimistic vision yet of how breaking free of Brussels will benefit the whole country.
She said: “Brexit gives us the opportunity to build a better future and to help people to realise the British dream.”
The Prime Minister declared: “As a nation, we’re at a really important point in our history. Brexit is that important point because our future is in our own hands.
“We’ll have the opportunity to take the freedoms that people voted for and use them to deliver that better future for everybody.”
She also issued a stark warning that demands for a second EU referendum risk shattering trust in Westminster.
She said: “We gave people the opportunity to make a choice. They made that choice. If we as politicians want people to trust us, then we have to deliver for them on that.”
And in a riposte to Tory MPs plotting against her leadership, Mrs May insists she plans to stay in Downing Street to transform Britain long after next year’s EU exit date.
“This isn’t just about Brexit – there is more to do,” the Prime Minister added.
Mrs May sounded her passionate message about Brexit in an interview with the Daily Express in her private office next to the Cabinet room in Downing Street.
Accelerate
Speaking on the eve of an EU summit in Salzburg, Austria, today that is expected to accelerate the push towards a Brexit deal, she said: “The withdrawal agreement is virtually agreed. Chequers is about the future relationship. I’m putting on the table what we think is the right plan for the UK.”
Brexit will give Britain the freedom to spend billions of pounds on the country’s own priorities, including investing in the NHS, tackling the housing shortage and educating the next generation with the skills needed to get on in life.
Mrs May added: “This is all about helping people along the way of that British dream.
“Brexit gives us an opportunity to have the freedom to be able to deliver that in a way that we haven’t before.”
Mrs May was also scathing about the People’s Vote and other wellfunded campaign groups demanding a fresh national referendum on the Brexit decision.
The Prime Minister said: “This was probably the biggest exercise in democracy in our country’s history. If we were to go back on that vote, it would destroy trust in politicians.
“The parliamentary vote to give the choice to the people wasn’t a close run thing, a five to one or six to one vote to say to the public it’s your choice.
“People weren’t saying it’s the choice of the public except if we disagree with the answer we’ll ask them again. It was the public’s choice. My answer to the People’s Vote is that we’ve had the people’s vote, it was the referendum – and now we should deliver on it.
“A lot of people out there, however they voted in the referendum, say a decision’s been taken, let’s get on with it and do it.”
Despite criticism of her Brexit plan, agreed by the Cabinet at Chequers, from both Brexiteer and pro-Brussels Tories, the Prime Minister insisted she was confident that a majority of MPs will back her hoped-for final deal in the Commons.
She added: “I’m confident that we can get a good deal and when people come to look at that as the final end point in these negotiations, I hope people will reflect on the fact that we did give a vote to the people. We said to the public: ‘It’s your choice.’ It’s our job to deliver on that.”
Looking towards Britain’s future outside the EU, the Prime Minister spoke of her passionate belief that Brexit can renew a sense of national pride across the country.
She said: “For a lot of people, they did feel that the UK would be making its own decisions again.
“What I sense from my trips around the world, Africa most recently, is that people are looking at us in a different light too because we will be that independent sovereign nation able to do our own trade deals.
“As a global Britain, people will look to us and the role we’ll be play-
If we, as politicians, want people to trust us, then we have to deliver for them
People are looking at Britain in a different light because we will be that independent sovereign nation
What we are proposing is making our own laws, controlling our own borders and controlling our money
Most people want Brexit done and to feel the country at last has come together
ing in the world. Our future is in our own hands. We have the opportunity now to shape the UK and its future in a way that’s good for everyone across the country.”
Mrs May said she was “confident” that the Brussels negotiations were edging towards a deal.
She felt other EU leaders could see next year’s departure date looming and understood that a deal would benefit both sides.
She added: “I’m confident we can get a good deal. We’ve put the Chequers plan on the table and that does deliver for people. I believe that what we’re proposing is the Brexit that delivers the freedoms that people voted for – making our own laws, controlling our own borders, controlling our money.
“What I hear from other EU leaders is a recognition of that timetable and a recognition of the importance of showing we can sit down and come to an agreement.
“I’m not going to be pushed away from doing what is necessary to get the right deal for Britain.” Mrs May also took a swipe at her Tory Eurosceptic critics, including Boris Johnson, accusing them of failing to produce a detailed alternative to her Brexit proposals. She said: “The plan that is on the table, the plan that delivers on the Brexit vote but also protects jobs and maintains the unity of the UK, is the Chequers plan. I haven’t seen another plan that delivers on all of those.”
She vowed not to compromise on the key issues that drove hundreds of thousands of Daily Express readers to vote Leave in the 2016 EU referendum. She added: “What I am giving people a guarantee on is those areas that are non-negotiable for us – the key areas for people like Express readers who voted to Leave – that we leave, come out of the jurisdiction of the European Court, that we’re able to make our own laws, that we bring an end to free movement, and no longer send vast sums of money to the EU so we can spend it on our own priorities.
“I think people want to come together. For most people, they want Brexit done and they want to feel the country at last has come together.”
‘It was the public’s choice. My answer to the People’s Vote is that we had it – the referendum – and now we must deliver on it’
TODAY in this newspaper in an upbeat interview the Prime Minister talks of how Brexit will deliver the freedoms that the public voted for more than two years ago. It has been a long hard road but Mrs May has shown remarkable resilience and finally we do seem to be getting close to a deal with Brussels. But we urge the Prime Minister not to make concessions which will undermine the spirit of Brexit. Brexit, in her own words, must still mean Brexit.
So much of Westminster’s time has been occupied with the EU that it is good to hear Mrs May’s thoughts on other key issues such as the NHS, housing, jobs, and technical education. Many of these are areas which will be freed up from EU regulations after next March. “Brexit,” she says, “gives us the opportunity to build that better future.”
She has also taken on board the Daily Express’s crusade demanding respect for the elderly and she confirms that the Government is asking the Law Commission to consider making abuse of the elderly a hate crime.
The Prime Minister is known to be a cricket lover so she also takes time to praise Alastair Cook for his recent achievements and fine career.
To borrow a sporting metaphor Mrs May talks a good game and has had her share of sticky wickets. Let’s hope she can deliver before Brussels pulls up stumps.