NEW BREXIT MINISTER BACKS NO DEAL
Meteoric rise of migrant’s daughter who is not scared to talk tough
THE Brexit Department has been beefed up with the appointment of a leading Eurosceptic who says leaving the EU without a deal would be ‘great’ for Britain.
Fareham MP Suella Fernandes, a former barrister, is chairman of the influential European Research Group of pro-Brexit backbench Tories.
Her promotion to a junior ministerial post marks a meteoric rise for the 37-year- old, who was elected to Parliament in 2015.
A daughter of immigrants from Kenya and Mauritius, she has previously declared her determination to make Britain a ‘fully sovereign trading nation’ once again after Brexit.
She grew up in Wembley, North London. Her mother was a nurse who worked in the NHS for 45 years and her father worked for a housing association.
She won a scholarship to an independent school and studied law at Cambridge where she was chairman of the Cambridge University Conservative Association.
Miss Fernandes says that in 15 years, Brexit ‘will be seen as the best thing that has happened to our country’.
She added: ‘In the event of no deal, that’s great as well for us.
‘The ideal is a free trade agreement but in the event of that not working, no deal is something we will capitalise on using our strengths and the opportunities that brings.’
In her maiden speech to the House of Commons, Miss Fernandes said it was ‘a stroke of luck to be born British, and my indebtedness goes to the heart of why I am a Conservative’.
She added: ‘ Our party rewards endeavour, enables compassion and liberates people from the shackles of the State. Our party says, “It doesn’t matter where you start. You can make your life and that of others better by taking responsibility and through selfempowerment and generosity”.’
The Department for Exiting the European Union – known as DExEU – which is led by David Davis, now has three junior ministers in the Commons – Miss Fernandes, Robin Walker and Steve Baker.
At the end of her reshuffle, Theresa May had carefully preserved the balance within Cabinet of Leavers and Remainers. The new Work and Pensions Secretary, Esther McVey, backed Brexit.
Two pro-Remain MPs, Claire Perry and Caroline Nokes, will also attend Cabinet.
The most eye- catching promotion on Monday was of David Liddington, a former Europe minister and Remainer, who takes Damian Green’s Cabinet Office job, but without the First Secretary of State title. He is seen as a like-forlike replacement. However, there was no job for Jacob Rees-Mogg, a prominent Eurosceptic.
Contrary to one report, there was no evidence of the appointment of a ‘minister for no deal’. On Monday it was suggested the reshuffle would involve a Cabinet- level appointment of a ‘no deal’ minister to deal with preparations for the collapse of talks. As well as attending Cabinet the minister would ‘control a significant budget’, the Daily Telegraph reported.
In June, Miss Fernandes succeeded Mr Baker as chairman of the ERG, the main Eurosceptic group of Tory MPs. At the time, she said: ‘The next two years will be crucial in the transition of the UK into a fully sovereign trading nation. I don’t believe in a “hard” Brexit or a “soft” Brexit; I am passionate about a pro-business and jobs-led Brexit which will increase our country’s prosperity.’
The group has played a key role in organising Eurosceptic MPs to get behind the Government.
Jeremy Corbyn has infuriated Remainers in his party by reminding them that Britain voted to quit the single market.
Leading Europhile MP Chuka Umunna walked out of a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party in disgust as the Labour leader unveiled his vision.
Mr Corbyn told pro-EU Labour
MPs at the meeting on Monday night that he would not support their bid to keep Britain in the single market because that was not what voters wanted.
It is the latest clash between the hard-Left Labour leadership, which is known to be lukewarm towards the EU, and most of the party’s MPs and members who want continued close co-operation.
One MP told Sky News: ‘Jeremy said that when people voted to leave the EU, they voted to leave the single market. Single market membership requires us to be members of the EU.’