Now build the Britain we were promised...
Today our nation wakes up to a future outside the EU. We were told it would make our country fairer and stronger. For the sake of everyone who voted Leave or Remain...
THE crowds on the streets last night – whether dressed in blue and yellow stars or in red, white and blue – will wake up today asking the same question.
Now Britain is outside the EU for the first time in 47 years, will Boris Johnson deliver on his promise of a golden future for all?
The PM has vowed to unite a country deeply divided over Brexit and pledged to “level up” economic opportunities across communities battered by a decade of Tory austerity. Both Leavers and Remainers will be looking to Mr Johnson to honour his pledge to give the £350million a week that went to Brussels to the NHS. And voters in Labour areas of the North and Midlands were handed a string of vows in return for helping him get elected with a huge majority last month.
But his commitment will be questioned if he scraps the HS2 railway – or at least the part of it set to serve Leeds and Manchester. Mr Johnson also comes under pressure to cut net migration, with many people voting Leave over worries about the number of immigrants. And there are fears workers’ rights and safety regulations may be watered down under a Tory government freed from stringent Brussels rules.
The PM will also have to make trade deals across the globe and he will be reminded of his pledge to keep the NHS off the table in any agreement with the US.
But Cabinet minister Michael Gove admitted trade with the EU would not be “frictionless” after the leave transition period ends on December 31.
As the curtain finally came down on the UK’s membership of the EU at 11pm last night, supporters celebrated in Parliament Square.
Some held placards bearing anti-Europe messages including “EU no more”, “Independence Day” and “Lock up the traitors”.
Others were draped in Union Flags. They sang Rule Britannia and chanted “What do we want? Brexit. When do we want it? Now.”
Personal assistant Clare Fawcett, 47, was among them. She said: “It’s amazing, this is the most excited I have ever felt in my life.”
Retired schoolteacher Andrew Bullock, 57, of Coventry, added: “I’ve been looking forward to this happening for months.”
But EU supporters staged protests in Liverpool, Doncaster and Harrogate.
In Brussels, Brexit Party MEPs,
including Ann Widdecombe, left the EU building led by a bagpiper. The Union flag was taken down at the European Council building,
Mr Johnson yesterday held a symbolic Cabinet meeting in Sunderland, the first city to declare for Leave after the vote in June 2016. The PM said in a recorded TV speech last night: “Tonight we are leaving the European Union.
For many this is an astonishing moment of hope, and there are many who feel a sense of anxiety and loss. I understand all those feelings and our job, my job, is to bring this country together now and take us forward.”
Turning to his pledges made to the North and Midlands, he added: “This is the dawn of a new era in which we no longer accept that your life chances, your family’s life chances, should depend on which part of the country you grow up in.
“This is the moment when we really begin to unite and level up, defeating crime, transforming our NHS and with better education, with superb technology.”
Outgoing Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: “Whatever side we took in the Brexit debate we now need to bring the country together.”
Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer said he would bring back freedom of movement if he became PM. He said: “I want families to be able to live together and people to be able to study in Europe and people in Europe to study here.”
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the EU wants the “best possible relationship with the UK”. But she warned: “It will never be as good as membership.”