‘Madness to oppose a Brexit that sets us free’
Johnson signals desire to break from EU’s rules
BORIS JOHNSON has warned it would be “mad” to end up with a Brexit settlement that does not allow the UK to enjoy the “economic freedoms” of leaving the European Union.
Signalling the need to diverge from EU rules after leaving the bloc, the Foreign Secretary insisted yesterday that the UK should not remain locked into alignment with Brussels.
In the latest salvo in a Cabinet battle over how closely the UK should remain tied to the EU after leaving, Mr Johnson said Britain should not be “lashed to the minute prescriptions” of a bloc comprising just six per cent of the world’s population.
Mr Johnson’s comments at a speech in London are in stark contrast to Chancellor Philip Hammond’s hope that the UK would only diverge “very modestly” from the EU.
With the Cabinet set to make a final decision on its approach, Mr Johnson refused to guarantee he would not quit this year if he did not get a ‘hard Brexit’. “We are all very lucky to serve and I’m certainly one of those,” he said.
The UK has committed to leave the single market and customs union, but the EU could impose conditions to closely follow rules as part of the comprehensive deal sought by Theresa May.
Setting out his approach, Mr Johnson said: “We would be mad to go through this process of extrication from the EU and not to take advantage of the economic freedoms it will bring.”
He said that by leaving the EU “we will be able, if we so choose, to fish our own fish, to ban the traffic in live animals and payments to some of the richest landowners in Britain”.
There would be freedom to cut VAT on fuel, “simplify planning and speed up public procurement”, Mr Johnson added.
In a sign that there could be changes to environmental protections, he said “we might decide that it was indeed absolutely necessary for every environmental impact assessment to monitor two life cycles of the snail and build special swimming pools for newts” but “it would at least be our decision”.
Mr Johnson said the issue was about “who decides” and “it may very well make sense” to remain in alignment with EU standards on some products – but that commitment should not be written in to the Brexit deal.
“I don’t think we should necessarily commit, as a matter of treaty, that forever and a day we are going to remain locked into permanent congruence with the EU,” he said.
Mr Johnson’s speech was said to be aimed at reaching out to Remain supporters but it did little to win over Tory critics. MP Sarah Wollaston said Mr Johnson’s upbeat speech did not address the “serious practical difficulties” posed by Brexit.
West Yorkshire MP and ex-Labour Minister Yvette Cooper said the Foreign Secretary’s speech should not be taken seriously and described it as “waffly, bumbling (and)] empty.” She said: “With 13 months to go we need practical answers and details from Government, not just Boris Johnson bluster.”
We are all very lucky to serve and I’m certainly one of those. Boris Johnson on whether he would the Cabinet due to its split on Brexit
EUROPEAN COMMISSION president Jean-Claude Juncker has accused British politicians such as Boris Johnson of talking “total nonsense” when they accuse him of seeking to create a European superstate.
His comments came as he answered questions at a press conference in Brussels taking place as the Foreign Secretary made a high-profile speech on Brexit in London.
The Commission president was asked to respond to Mr Johnson’s suggestions that he was trying to turn the EU into a federal superstate.
Mr Juncker replied: “Some in the British political society are against the truth, pretending that I am a stupid, stubborn federalist, that I am in favour of a European superstate. I am strictly against a European superstate. We are not the United States of America, we are the European Union, which is a rich body because we have these 27, or 28, nations.
“The European Union cannot be built against the European nations, so this is total nonsense.”
During his speech in London yesterday morning, Mr Johnson used the occasion to woo Remainers struggling to come to terms with Brexit.
The Foreign Secretary, who was the key face of Leave in the referendum, said he wanted to “reach out to those who still have anxieties” and insisted many had “noble sentiments” that should be respected.
But critics dismissed his attempt at uniting the country and accused him of hypocrisy because they say he ran a campaign based on fear and scaremongering.
Mr Johnson was at great pains to distance himself and the Government from the “little Englander” fears many Remain supporters have about Brexit. He told the assembled journalists and diplomats that quitting the European Union is “not about returning to some autarkic 1950s menu of spam and cabbage and liver”.
Brexit is the great “liberal project of the age”, the Foreign Secretary said, even referencing liberalism’s revered philosopher, John Stuart Mill.
Richard Tice, co-chairman of the pro-Brexit Leave Means Leave group, welcomed the “optimistic vision” set out by Mr Johnson.
He said: “The opportunities outside of the EU are immense – in terms of trade and the economy as well as by taking back control of our laws, borders and money.
“To achieve this, the Government must not allow us to be handcuffed to EU regulations and bureaucracy after we leave in March 2019.”
But Labour and trade unions warned that the Brexit vision outlined by the Foreign Secretary would result in workers’ rights being scrapped. Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said Mr Johnson’s speech had revealed the Government’s intention to “casually cast aside” rights and protections when the UK leaves the European Union.
The Confederation of British Industry insisted that firms did not want a “bonfire of regulations”. John Foster, the CBI’s director of campaigns, said businesses were committed to making Brexit a success but “evidence, not ideology, should guide the UK’s thinking on a close future relationship with the EU”.
Sir Keir said Mr Johnson’s approach would “further divide the country” and put jobs and living standards at risk.
He said: “This speech underlined the Government’s real intentions; a Brexit of deregulation, where rights and protections are casually cast aside and where the benefits of the single market and the customs union are ignored.
“Nobody will be fooled or reassured by the Foreign Secretary’s empty rhetoric. His insistence on deregulating our economy is the opposite of what businesses and trade unions want to hear.”
IF BORIS Johnson’s setpiece speech on Brexit was supposed to reassure Remain voters who remain fearful for the future as Britain prepares to leave the European Union, it achieved the precise opposite.
Mr Johnson appeared, on occasion, to be more intent on rerunning the 2016 EU referendum rather than providing businesses, and wealth-creators, with the clarity that they require so urgently.
Though his tone was more emollient, the referendum rifts will not be bridged until there is a definitive trade policy in place which can then be used to underpin domestic policies like migration.
Yet the fact that this was the first of six major speeches due to be delivered by Cabinet ministers suggests that Theresa May has been unable to unite her own top team as the next negotiating deadlines with the EU approach.
This was illustrated by Mr Johnson’s awkward – and non-committal – response when asked if he would quit this year if there continued to be the close alignment between Britain and the EU that is being advocated by, amongst others, Philip Hammond, the Chancellor.
This reaction reaffirmed the view that the Government is still trying to make sense of this upheaval when it should, by now, be far more advanced with its plans. And why isn’t it? Brexiteers like Mr Johnson won the referendum without having to offer a workable plan of their own.