U.K. Soreivn secretary tries to reassure saeptics About Breyit
LONDON — Britain should make a clean break with European Union laws and regulations after it leaves the bloc, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said, arguing that the U.K. will prosper after Brexit by “going global.”
Johnson, who was a leader of the “leave” campaign during Britain’s 2016 EU membership referendum, used a speech in London on Wednesday to argue for “an outward-facing, liberal and global Britain” after Brexit.
“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.
It was the first in a series of speeches by senior ministers that the British government hopes will show unity and energy around Brexit after months of prevarication and mixed messages.
But Johnson’s speech highlighted divisions within the Conservative government over what kind of relationship Britain wants with the EU after it leaves the bloc in March 2019.
The EU is Britain’s biggest trading partner, and some ministers, including Treasury chief Philip Hammond, want to stay as close as possible to its borderless single market and tariff-free customs union. Others, including Johnson, want a definitive break so Britain can pursue a distinct economic policy and new trade deals around the world.
With just over a year until Britain leaves the EU, the two factions are still fighting for supremacy in the U.K. government.
Johnson said Britain should not agree to accept EU rules in return for access to its markets, saying it would be “absurd if we had to obey laws over which we had no say and no vote.”