MAY’S BLUEPRINT FOR CLEAN BREXIT
We can’t be half-out and half-in, says PM as she vows UK will ‘stand tall once again’
THERESA May put a fullthroated Brexit at the heart of her party’s manifesto yesterday as she vowed to deliver a clean break from Brussels.
The manifesto commits the Conservatives to pulling out of the single market, the customs union and European Court of Justice, and reaffirms the Prime Minister’s threat to walk away from a ‘bad’ trade deal.
Including the pledges in her blueprint for government will make it much harder for rebel Tory MPs, diehard Remainers and unelected peers to block a proper Brexit.
In her speech in Halifax, Mrs May said: ‘If we fail, the consequences for Britain and for the economic security of ordinary working people will be dire. If we succeed, the opportunities ahead of us are great.’
But the Prime Minister said there would be ‘give and take’ in negotiations and signalled Britain could pay at least a part of the £85billion bill demanded by the EU.
Mrs May confirmed the country would not ‘be half-in and half-out of the EU’, and said ‘negotiating the best deal for Britain’ would be the central challenge facing her if she returns to Downing Street.
‘Our future prosperity, our place in the world, our standard of living, and the opportunities we want for our children – and our children’s children – each and every one depends on having the strongest possible hand as we enter those negotiations in order to get the best Brexit deal for families across this country,’ she said. ‘I have negotiated for Britain in Europe, and I know that the best place to start is to be clear about where you stand and what you want.
‘That is why I have been clear that we do not seek to fudge this issue – to be half-in and half-out of the EU. The British people made their choice. I respect that, and I respect the view of other European leaders who agree we can’t be halfin, half-out either.’
The Prime Minister promised to forge a ‘new deep and special partnership with Europe’, and to transform the country into a global trading nation ‘that stands tall in the world once again’.
But the manifesto reaffirmed Mrs May’s view that ‘no deal is better than a bad deal for the UK’ in terms of its future trading relationship with the EU. ‘The negotiations will undoubtedly be tough, and there will be give and take on both sides, but we continue to believe that no deal is better than a bad deal for the UK,’ it said.
The document said the Government may be willing to make a ‘reasonable’ contribution to the EU after Brexit and pledged to come to a ‘fair settlement’ on an exit bill. But it warned Brussels that the days of Britain ‘making vast annual contributions to the European Union will end’.
The Conservatives said they will create a British ‘shared prosperity fund’ to replace EU regional development funding, which has often been criticised for being wasted and misspent.
Mrs May also used the manifesto to rule out a second Scottish independence referendum until after Brexit is complete.
‘The United Kingdom has voted to leave the European Union but some would disrupt our attempts to get the best deal for Scotland and the UK with calls for a divisive referendum that the people of Scotland do not want,’ it said.
‘We have been very clear that now is not the time for another referendum on independence. In order for a referendum to be fair, legal and decisive, it cannot take place until the Brexit process has played out and it should not take place unless there is public consent for it to happen. This is a time to pull together, not apart.’
The two main political parties received nearly £7million in donations in the first week of the election campaign.
The Conservatives have built up a war chest of £4million, while Labour has received £2.6million, almost all of which came from its union backers.
‘The strongest possible hand’