TIME TO BELIEVE IN BREXIT BRITAIN
PM’s conference speech will today spell out her patriotic vision of a future ‘full of promise’...
THERESA May will today make a patriotic call for the country to pull together in the national interest and build a post-Brexit future that is “full of promise”.
In her keynote speech at the Tory conference, the Prime Minister will declare that next year’s departure from the EU is a “moment of opportunity” for the UK that will lead to a brighter tomorrow.
“I passionately believe that our best days lie ahead of us and that our future is
full of promise,” she is expected to say.
She will also take a swipe at the EU by insisting Britain will thrive whatever the outcome of the Brussels negotiations.
“Don’t let anyone tell you we don’t have what it takes: we have everything we need to succeed,” the Prime Minister will tell the Tory faithful.
And she will accuse Jeremy Corbyn of alienating millions of “patriotic” Britons.
Mrs May’s passionate call to arms will close a Tory conference in Birmingham dominated by Cabinet calls for the party to end the Brexit infighting and unite around her Chequers proposal for an EU trade deal.
Mrs May’s hour-long speech, entitled: “Our Future Is In Our Hands”, will highlight how countries across the world stand ready to trade with a newly independent UK.
She will promise that, in the coming months as the Brexit negotiations reach a climax, the Tories will put the needs of hard-working people first.
She will say that the Conservative Party recognises “the good that government can do but knows that government will never have all the answers” and “believes your success in life should not be defined by who you love, your faith, the colour of your skin, who your parents were, or where you were raised – but by your talent and hard work”.
Signalling her desire to dominate the centre ground, the Prime Minister will accuse Labour under hardLeft Mr Corbyn of abandoning “decency” in political discourse.
“Millions of people who have never supported our party in the past are appalled by what Jeremy Corbyn has done to Labour,” she will say.
“They want to support a party that is decent, moderate and patriotic, one that puts the national interest first, delivers on the issues they care about and is comfortable with modern Britain in all its diversity.
“We must show everyone in this country that we are that party, a party that conserves the best of our inheritance but is not afraid of change, a party of patriotism but not nationalism a party that believes in business but is not afraid to hold businesses to account.”
Mocking Labour’s “for the many not the few” slogan, the Prime Minister will say that the Tories stand “not for the few, not even for the many, but for everyone who is willing to work hard and do their best”.
Mrs May last night dismissed a warning from her Business Minister Claire Perry that a no-deal Brexit would be “catastrophic”. She said: “We are preparing for a ‘no deal’ because we don’t know what the outcome of the negotiations is going to be.
“We are all focused – as Claire is and the whole government is – on making sure we get a good deal from the EU.
“If we go into a no-deal situation, there would, I believe – and others have said this – be some short-term disruption.
“What is important is that government puts in place measures that make sure we can make a success of Brexit, regardless of the deal we get from the EU.”
The Prime Minister also insisted she was still committed to bringing net annual migration down to “sustainable levels” in the “tens of thousands” rather than hundreds of thousands. She said: “It will take time to get to where we want to and – as I’ve always said in the past in terms of dealing with immigration – you constantly have to be looking to make sure you’ve got the rules right and people aren’t abusing the system.”
In another interview, Mrs May added that the government will soon publish fresh proposals for solving the Brexit row over the Northern Irish border.
“We are continuing to work on that new offer and we will put a new offer before the European Commission,” she said.
“People use this phrase ‘backstop’. What it means is a guarantee to the people of Northern Ireland. We committed to that in December in the joint report.
“I did that because the people of Northern Ireland are part of the United Kingdom.”