Boris says EU laws ‘intolerable’ after Brexit
Foreign Secretary draws red line in warning that Brussels’ influence could hit trade deals
BORIS JOHNSON warns today that it would be “intolerable and undemocratic” for EU laws and regulations to be imposed on Britain after Brexit.
In a major speech, the Foreign Secretary will say that the benefits of membership of the single market are “nothing like as conspicuous or irrefutable” as is claimed by pro-europeans.
He will warn that failing to “take back control of our laws” will make it impossible for Britain to strike free trade deals and “exploit the changes in the world economy”.
Mr Johnson’s speech, entitled “The Road to Brexit: A United Kingdom”, is aimed at securing the support of both Remainers and Leavers.
His comments come amid Cabinet splits over how far Britain should diverge from the EU, with the Foreign Secretary and other senior Eurosceptics making the case for a clean Brexit.
Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, and other members of the Cabinet who backed Remain want Britain to be closely aligned to the EU to limit the economic risk.
The divisions in Cabinet have been intensified by the leak of a gloomy cross-whitehall analysis which found that Britain would be worse off after leaving the EU in almost every scenario modelled.
In his speech in central London, Mr Johnson will make clear that stopping Brussels imposing laws on Britain after it leaves the EU in March 2019 must be a red line. He will say: “It is only by taking back control of our laws that UK firms and entrepreneurs will have the freedom to innovate, without the risk of having to comply with some direc- tive devised by Brussels, at the urgings of some lobby group, with the aim of holding back a UK competitor.
“That would be intolerable, undemocratic, and would make it all but impossible for us to do serious free trade deals. It is only by taking back control of our regulatory framework and our tariff schedules that we can do these deals, and exploit the changes in the world economy.”
The Foreign Secretary will also warn that pro-europeans are “more determined” than ever to stop Brexit and “reverse the will of the people” by pushing for a second referendum.
He will say that doing so would be a “disastrous mistake” and lead to “permanent and ineradicable feelings of betrayal” from those who voted to leave the EU. “We cannot and will not let it happen,” he will say.
It comes after The Daily Telegraph disclosed that George Soros, the billionaire financier known as “the man who broke the Bank of England”, is backing a campaign to reverse the result of the EU referendum.
Meanwhile, Theresa May will attempt to kick-start the second phase of Brexit negotiations and bypass the European Commission in a meeting with Angela Merkel in Berlin on Friday.
As part of a Brexit charm offensive, the Chancellor and David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, are making a series of visits to allies across the EU in a cam- paign to win support for Britain.
Mr Johnson will highlight the fact that non-eu countries have seen far faster growth in exports than the bloc. He will say: “In the last few years there have been plenty of non-eu countries
who have seen far more rapid growth in their exports to the EU than we have – even though we pay a handsome membership fee.
“We are a nation of inventors, designers, scientists, architects, lawyers, insurers, water slide testers, Toblerone cabinet makers. There are some sectors, such as AI, or robotics, or bulk data, or bioscience, where we excel and where we may want to do things differently.”
He is also expected to say that the Government’s pledge to control migration after Brexit has helped stop the rise of the far-right in Britain.
In a direct appeal to those who voted Remain, Mr Johnson will say that the Government must not repeat the mistakes of the past when pro-eu voices too often “ignored” those that opposed the European project. He will say: “If we are to carry this project through to national success – as we must – then we must also reach out to those who still have anxieties.
“I want to try today to anatomise at least some of those fears and to show to the best of my ability that they are unfounded, and that the very opposite is usually true: that Brexit is not grounds for fear but hope. It is not good enough to say to Remainers – you lost, get over it; because we must accept that many are actuated by entirely noble sentiments, a real sense of solidarity with our European neighbours and a desire for the UK to succeed.”