Forget the hardliners. Listen to Hammond

YOU may say I’m a dreamer,’ said Beatles fan Donald Tusk last week, by way of daring to hope that Brexit will now not happen. But as a Remain voter myself in last year’s referendum, let me shake the European Council president out of his John Lennon-inspired Imagine reveries.

Brexit will happen. We will leave the European Union.

Despite all the difficulties that Theresa May faces – difficulties, I am sure, she will overcome – we will respect the clear verdict of the British people. There will be no backsliding on the Leave vote.

Twelve months after the referendum, with the High Court challenges and the battles over Article 50 behind us, the fact that Britain will bid Brussels ‘adieu’ is not in doubt. A great many Remain voters now accept that and just

want us to get on with it. However, we have to be honest with the public and say it will necessarily be a long and winding road, to quote this time from a Paul McCartney lyric. To secure the best possible deal for the UK will take time and patience.

Why? Because the crucial issue, as many MPs now realise, is that we must do everything possible to protect British jobs and wages.

It is no denial of Brexit to ensure that it happens without costing Britons their livelihoods. Sadly, in the past six months, the squeeze on the wages of many workers has got worse as the pound has fallen in value and inflation has risen.

Many UK businesses, small and large, share a sense of alarm at the prospect of a ‘cliff-edge’ at the end of Brexit negotiations in two years’ time, when Britain could leave the EU without a new deal in place.

There are some in my party who do not share this concern and would welcome a clean break without any deal that might place obligations or costs on the UK.

No single market, no customs agreement, no free-trade deal with the EU, no deal on EU workers here and UK citizens living there, nothing.

But that would not be good for our economy and does not reflect mainstream opinion among Conservative MPs in this new Parliament. The quiet majority are looking for an approach to Brexit that puts jobs and prosperity at the top of our list of priorities. Forget ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’ – it’s time to deliver sensible Brexit.

This is why I support the pragmatic approach outlined by Philip Hammond in his Mansion House speech last week. The Chancellor said that no one voted in the referendum to become poorer, and he is right.

It is the kind of calm, levelheaded approach that should command widespread support – a full trade deal in goods and services with no new customs red tape at borders.

Securing this deal which is so important for jobs will mean not rushing into a hard-line approach on EU workers.

We will need to explain this far better to those people who want Brexit to be all about cutting immigration immediately.

To achieve this deal would require a transition period between the end of negotiations and the new UK-EU relationship taking full effect.

This would reduce disruption to business and protect the economy.

Although Britain would have legally left the EU, this transition will provide time for both sides to adapt to the new relationship.

For example, it may take time to train up British workers to replace those from the EU doing skilled jobs. But, so long as we fix a clear end-point, no one should fear a sensible transition.

Brexit was always going to be a process, not a one-off event.

At the heart of the Conservative mission is to see the opportunities that come from decent work and property ownership extended to the widest possible number of people. That is the basis of our liberty and self-reliance as a nation. As Conservatives, we should only do things that advance that cause. It goes without saying that I believe this sensible Brexit can, and will, be delivered by a Tory Government led by Mrs May.

Challenging though the circumstances may be, there is no compelling reason why the Prime Minister cannot lead the country successfully for the full five-year term of this new Parliament.

And with the generous, openspirited offer to allow EU citizens to remain in this country postBrexit, Mrs May showed she is more than capable of guiding us to a successful outcome.

Getting Brexit right for British workers is crucial. It will demand vision and pragmatism – qualities that have defined every successful Conservative Government.

Delivering this is not to betray Brexit. It is to fulfil it.