Liz Truss:
Super Saturday could have been the day MPS finally implemented the referendum result, opening the door to a bright new future for our country. Instead, it was another damp squib in a series of many for this zombie parliament. This is so frustrating as we are primed to unleash opportunity for every corner of our country and open up a new trade drive on the world stage.
Against the odds, the Prime Minister has secured a great new deal with Brussels that will allow us to make a success of leaving the EU without any further pointless delays on Oct 31. It gives us control over our domestic economic agenda, the freedom for the whole UK to forge new relationships with the rest of the world and provides scope for a sensible future relationship with the EU. But those who wish to thwart Brexit wilfully refuse to countenance what opportunities there might be for Britain if they were to vote for this deal.
Britain is the ideas factory of the world and has huge potential to benefit from the next technological revolution. Our future lies in being a high skilled, high innovation, free enterprise nation. We are attracting more tech investment than France and Germany put together. We are third in the world for billion dollar tech companies after the US and China.
With the Prime Minister’s deal, we will have control over our own rules and regulations, meaning that industries such as tech and financial services will be able to grow faster. Our food produced in an environmentally sustainable way with high welfare standards will grow in popularity, with more countries able to buy it. From Brompton bikes in Australia to Bentleys in the US – the world wants what Britain has to sell.
The biggest opportunities from Brexit will come from more trade with the rest of the world. No less than 90 per cent of global growth comes from outside the EU. My ambition is to cover 80 per cent of the UK’S current trade with free-trade agreements over the next three years that will bring down barriers and tariffs. These free trade deals will not only bring clear economic benefits that are reflected in the analysis – they will also protect us against arbitrary tariffs and rising protectionism, which, regrettably, we see around the world. We will be able to act in a flexible way to lower tariff barriers and protect British interests.
As Trade Secretary, I see the world is waiting. The Australians, the Americans, the Kiwis, the Japanese – they all want us to get Brexit done so that we can begin negotiations and forge new relationships that will open up new markets for British businesses, create jobs and attract new investment.
Our friends across the Channel have also indicated a desire for a strong trade agreement and there is plenty of time to secure an EU FTA by the end of 2020 if we leave with this deal on Oct 31 without further pointless delay.
The world is waiting. The EU is waiting. Britain is waiting. British businesses have been stuck in limbo, valiantly trying to continue with business as usual while uncertainty hangs over their heads.
This new deal will provide certainty and allow businesses to begin to plan for the future.
But the opposition benches want to prolong this uncertainty. They want to put membership of the customs union back into the deal, which would take us back to square one and render the UK unable to strike our own bilateral trade agreements around the world. And they want a second referendum, which not only betrays the vote of 2016, but also guarantees that we will be stuck in this Brexit quagmire for months, if not years longer.
This week, we have another crucial opportunity to end this uncertainty and take the UK out of the EU with deal. And think of where we could be in December 2020 if we do? Free trade deals negotiated with the EU and other partners that ensure our future as a high skilled, innovative, free enterprise economy, excelling in tech, data and services and selling our high-quality food around the world.
Parliament, it’s time to stop the delaying tactics, the games, the excuses. End the waiting. Move forward to the future. Back the deal.
Businesses have been in limbo while uncertainty hangs over their heads. This new deal will provide certainty