It’s in no one’s interests to rush into a new deal
Our country is embarking on a new journey. It is one that fills those of us who campaigned to leave with hope and optimism – of a fresher, more dynamic country forging new, stronger ties around the world while remaining good friends and neighbours with our European partners.
As we start this work, there are three key considerations that should be kept top of our minds, particularly as Conservatives in Government.
The first is that the result on Thursday was a narrow one. The reshaped Conservative administration needs to respect the views of the 48 per cent who voted to stay, and to make it absolutely clear from the outset that we do not regard this as a vote to become an inward facing country. We have a duty to demonstrate, particularly to a younger generation who voted to remain, that our ambitions are global, that we do not want to close our doors to people coming here to make a difference to our society, and that we want Britain to be an ambitious international citizen.
The second is that we need to take this carefully. There has been an understandable first reaction from other European capitals that they want us to go as quickly as possible. But it is neither in our interest nor theirs that we rush things and get them wrong.
We are their biggest trade partner, and a crucial market for thousands of European businesses. The fact that EU stock markets fell further than London on Friday shows that the risks of getting this wrong are far from onesided. We need to work closely and carefully to ensure that we can fulfil the wishes of the British people and still secure the basis for a long-term working relationship with the European Union.
That’s why we should not rush into the formal process for leaving set out in the Lisbon Treaty. We need to have informal discussions first. We need to consult on and agree our objectives.
Organisations like The City UK have already started work on what our financial services industry will need – an essential quid pro quo for giving EU businesses the same easy access to our markets. We need to establish the right formal negotiating team – and that will have to wait for a new prime minister. It should not just be made up of Conservative ministers but should draw from influential people across politics and outside politics, from business for example.
There are some things that can start right now, though. We should begin discussions with countries around the world about future free trade deals.
Every such deal will help create jobs for the future. Let’s start with countries like New Zealand, which have already said that they would want to work with us on new arrangements.
In Washington many politicians, though not the outgoing President Obama, say they want to do the same. In a letter to the president during the campaign, some of the most senior figures in Congress rebuked him for suggesting Britain would be at the back of the queue for future discussions.
The third key objective is for us as the governing party. I think David Cameron’s resignation is a major loss to our country, however heated the debate over the EU may have been. On the BBC Any Questions? on Friday I was asked about what the Brexiteers’ government would do.
There won’t be one. As everyone on the Leave campaign has made clear all along, what we want to see continue is a progressive one nation Conservative government. There will be senior people from both sides of the argument who will take the country forward and help shape our brave new future.
We now have to elect a new leader who can bring the Party back together again. It is just 15 months since we won our first overall majority since 1992. That is not something that any Conservative should throw away lightly. The manifesto we were elected on set out a path to complete the work we began to turn the country round after the 2010 election.
That work has already made a difference – reducing welfare dependency, improving school standards and creating better life chances for young people from deprived backgrounds. It will continue.
This very determination to act in the interests of all should be what also motivates us to unite against the divisive and dangerous Labour Party and behind whoever replaces David Cameron. The state of the UK’s opposition party is deeply worrying. Labour MPs may be moving against Jeremy Corbyn, but it’s far from clear that they can succeed.
The crucial point is that it’s not just about Labour’s leadership and the ideas of Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell – even though they represent the most extreme Left-wing politics we have seen in Parliament in my adult lifetime. It is what lies behind them that is particularly worrying.
Every Labour MP tells stories of local parties taken over by far-Left activists, by the people who sell the
in the High Street on a Saturday, by those who tried, as the Militant Tendency in the 1980s, to take over Labour. Then they failed. This time they have succeeded.
That, we must all remember, is the backdrop against which we will be working in Parliament over the next four years. It is also why there is such an imperative for us to reunite quickly, and put the debates, arguments and divisions of the past few weeks behind us. We will be letting down the country if we do otherwise.