May must clarify her own stand on Brexit

The synthetic row over whether or not Boris Johnson misused national statistics to make the case for Brexit in his Daily Telegraph article on Saturday wilfully obscures the important case he is making about the country’s future. When the UK leaves the EU, will it grasp the opportunity to become a vibrant, open and entrepreneurial nation? For that to happen, the Government would need to pursue a low-tax, small-state agenda different to the one that underpinned the Conservative manifesto in June.

The view gaining ground in the Conservative Party is that it needs to tack more towards the policies espoused by Labour if it is to win back support – especially among the young. But the more the Conservatives seek to emulate Jeremy Corbyn, the more voters will be open to the blandishments of the Left. Yet the problems of under-productivity, low wages, a poor skills base and expensive infrastructure will not be solved by socialism but by ambitious Conservative policies that seek to unleash the creative spirit of the nation.

There are differences in the Cabinet over the way in which Brexit is to be achieved; but there should be agreement over what it involves. Mr Johnson wants to look beyond the minutiae of the negotiations to offer a positive picture of what Britain can achieve freed of the regulatory straitjacket of Brussels. His timing – ahead of a major speech by the Prime Minister in Florence on Friday – has been questioned. But his ambition for the country cannot be faulted. What we still do not know, however, is whether Mrs May shares it.

She has the difficult job of bringing together the disparate views in the party – and the country at large – into one coherent narrative that will be seen in Europe as the agreed position of the Government. This is expected to include a twoyear transition and an agreement to pay into EU coffers for a period. But it also needs to set out for a domestic audience what it is we are transitioning to – do we effectively shadow the EU single market for good or make a clean break?

The decision to move Oliver Robbins, the civil servant in charge of the negotiations, from the Brexit department to the Cabinet Office suggests Mrs May is taking a much more hands-on approach than has been seen so far. After a weekend when Mr Johnson was accused of “back-seat driving”, Mrs May insisted that she was very much in charge of the car. We are about to find out.