‘We must look beyond Europe’
PM sets out Brexit blueprint to make Britain ‘truly global’ There will be no border deal to keep UK in single market
BRITAIN must look beyond Europe for economic success, the Prime Minister has said as she suggested there would be no deal on immigration to keep the UK in the single market.
Setting out her first detailed blueprint for Brexit, Theresa May said that the UK would become “truly global” as she listed eight nations including China, India and Singapore prepared to sign major free trade deals with the UK.
Addressing the Conservative Party conference yesterday for the first time since becoming Prime Minister, Mrs May made it clear that border controls are a red line in the Brexit negotiations, saying that “we are not leaving the European Union only to give up control of immigration again”.
Mrs May said that after Brexit the UK will be “a fully independent, sovereign country” that will no longer be in the “jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice”, suggesting that Britain is preparing to leave the single market.
Speaking in Birmingham, she said Tory MPs and peers trying to stop Britain from leaving the EU were “insulting the intelligence of the British people” and “subverting democracy”.
It came after Mrs May said that Britain will leave the EU by 2019 after she announced that she will trigger Article 50 – the formal process to exit the bloc – by March next year. Her speech was hailed by the MPs, ministers and party members inside the conference hall.
“Brexit should not just prompt us to think about our new relationship with the European Union,” Mrs May said.
“It should make us think about our role in the wider world. It should make us think of ‘Global Britain’, a country with the self-confidence and the freedom to look beyond the continent of Europe and to the economic and diplomatic opportunities of the wider world. Because we know that the referendum was not a vote to turn in ourselves, to cut ourselves off from the world. It was a vote for Britain to stand tall, to believe in ourselves, to forge an ambitious and optimistic new role in the world.”
She added: “Countries including Canada, China, India, Mexico, Singapore and South Korea have already told us they would welcome talks on future free trade agreements. And we have already agreed to start scoping discus- sions on trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand. A truly global Britain is possible, and it is in sight.
“And it should be no surprise that it is. Because we are the fifth biggest economy in the world.”
Calling on people to “ignore the pessimists”, Mrs May made clear that Britain does not need to “punch above our weight” because “our weight is substantial enough already”.
Taking the unusual step for a Tory leader of addressing the annual
‘In an age of anxiety and uncertainty it is surely obvious that the values of global Britain are needed more than ever’
Conservative conference on its opening day, Mrs May confirmed plans for a Great Repeal Bill to overturn the 1972 Act that took the UK into what was then the European Economic Community.
She rejected the argument of a choice between “hard Brexit” – in which the nation regains control over immigration but loses full access to the European single market – and “soft Brexit”, with access to the single market but free movement for EU workers.
To rapturous applause from her audience, Mrs May said: “I know some people ask about the ‘trade-off ’ between controlling immigration and trading with Europe. But that is the wrong way of looking at things.
“We have voted to leave the European Union and become a fully independent, sovereign country. We will do what independent, sovereign countries do. We will decide for ourselves how we control immigration. And we will be free to pass our own laws.”
EU leaders have repeatedly said that Britain will get no access to the single market unless it continues with freedom of movement rules, allowing all EU citizens to live and work in the UK.
However, speaking after Mrs May, David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, said EU leaders should “think carefully” before erecting barriers to trade.
And Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, said that “in an age of anxiety and uncertainty it is surely obvious that the values of global Britain are needed more than ever”.
Describing talk of Britain being subjected to trade tariffs, as “bluster”, Mr Davis said: “It certainly won’t be to anyone’s benefit to see an increase in barriers to trade, in either direction.
“So, we want to maintain the freest possible trade between us, without betraying the instruction we have received from the British people to take back control of our own affairs.”
He also said that Mrs May would prove Brexit opponents wrong in the same way as Margaret Thatcher defied her critics to become Britain’s longestserving prime minister.
“Back in 1979, [Mrs Thatcher’s] government had to confront some huge challenges,” he said. “And today, just as then, we are at a turning point in our nation’s story. Just as then, people have voted to chart a new course for our country – to transform Britain.
“And just as then, there is no shortage of doom-mongers telling Britain that it can’t be done. Ladies and gentlemen, Britain showed them it could be done. We proved them wrong then, and with your help, Britain will prove them wrong again.”