MAY: I’LL TURN A CORNER ON BREXIT
THERESA May will promise today a new chapter of “optimism and hope” in 2019, a year that will see Britain unleash its full potential following Brexit.
In an upbeat New Year message the Prime Minister pledged millions of Britons a bright future after the UK leaves the EU.
Mrs May said she will strengthen the economy, open prosperous new trade markets, create more jobs and build new houses once Britain is free from the shackles of Brussels.
And she urged MPs to back her Brexit deal, saying that passing it into law will allow the UK to “turn a corner” and put a disruptive period of political turmoil behind it. The PM used her message to put pressure on politicians to support her Withdrawal Agreement when it is put before the Commons next week.
She said that while the 2016 referendum was “divisive”, there was a chance to make 2019 “the year we put our differences aside and move forward together”.
In her video message, she said: “New Year is a time to look ahead and in 2019 the UK will start a new chapter.
“The Brexit deal I have negotiated delivers on the vote of the British people and in the next few weeks MPs will have an important
decision to make. If Parliament backs a deal, Britain can turn a corner.”
Mrs May also used the message to attempt to look beyond Brexit, saying settling the deal would allow time and energy to be spent on areas like housing, trade, the NHS, immigration reform and the environment.
“Together, I believe we can start a new chapter with optimism and hope,” she said.
Her buoyant message comes as the International Trade Secretary Liam Fox declared that Britain will take a leading role in directly shaping the future of the global trading system during 2019.
This year the UK will take up its independent seat in the World Trade Organisation and Dr Fox said this will help enable greater prosperity.
He added: “The UK has always been one of the major players in promoting a free global trading system and we will need to play an even greater role in the years ahead to rally against protectionism and ensure everyone plays by the rules.”
His message was backed by the UK’s Permanent Representative to the WTO Julian Braithwaite.
He said: “The UK will work with all members of the WTO, from our closest trading partners such as the European Union and the Commonwealth to the developing countries that now make up the majority of the WTO’s membership, to defend and protect the international trading system and to help bridge the gaps and generate support for the next generation of... agreements.”
But DUP leader Arlene Foster warned the Mrs May that she will need to get “significant changes” to the withdrawal deal if the Northern Irish party are to back it.
Questions were also asked yesterday about the Government’s preparations for a no-deal Brexit after it emerged that a £13.8million contract to run extra ferries was handed to a company with no ships and has not previously operated a ferry service.
ENOUGH of this doom and gloom. We all know the country is in a precarious position and we know that Brexit has caused deep divisions, not least because a growing band of EU warriors has found it hard to accept the result of the referendum.
But we prefer to take heed of what the Prime Minister says in her New Year message about putting our differences aside and starting a new chapter. “Britain can turn a corner… with optimism and hope,” says Mrs May.
Likewise, International Trade Secretary Dr Liam Fox has told the Daily Express that he believes Britain can play a key role in “directly shaping the future of the global trading system”. This is not bravado but exactly the approach we should all adopt at this defining moment in our history.
We have heard far too many scare stories about our future, many of them repeated again and again by Mrs May’s opponents on both sides of the Commons. Let us resolve to talk our country up not down in 2019. Let us double our efforts to make sure Britain gets the best possible Brexit deal.
And let us look forward to a brighter future once we have been released from the shackles of the EU.