Don’t be afraid … be optimistic about Brexit, says Britain’s Boris

It was billed as a Valentine’s Day embrace of the millions alienated by Britain’s exit from the European Union but in the end Boris Johnson came closer to blowing a raspberry at hopes the country can keep close cross-channel ties.

The Foreign Secretary, the leading voice of the exit campaign, sought yesterday to address the anxiety of those who fear the breach will trigger a calamitous national decline in a speech in London.

Mr Johnson drew on personal experience to address the concerns of the so-called Remainers while rejecting their hopes to remain in EU institutions. Instead he set out a vision of a liberal trading nation that would volunteer to work with the EU to maintain security, prosperity and social ties on its own terms.

“We must reach out to those who still have anxieties and I want to today anatomise at least some of the fears and to show to the best of my ability that these fears can be allayed and that the very opposite is true – that Brexit can be grounds for optimism,” Mr Johnson said at the think tank Policy Exchange.

He decried a condition of “Brexchosis” that foresaw a gloomy future, claiming that the British genius for bucking historic trends would be vindicated. Taking on the three prominent arguments against the British breaking a 45-year liaison with the EU, Mr Johnson said the most common concerns were based on false assumptions.

The first of these was that the UK was protected as a small nation within the larger bloc of the EU. The second was that the vote to leave was a vote for nationalism and xenophobia. And finally that the UK will be economically worse off as a result of leaving.

“Whatever the superficial attractions of these points, they can be turned on their head today,” he said. “Brexit need not be nationalist but can be internationalist.”

While there are many who have called for a second vote on the terms of the British exit deal with EU, Mr Johnson cautioned against another nationwide plebiscite that could lead to the country staying in the block despite.

“[It would be a] disastrous mistake that would lead to permanent and ineradicable feelings of betrayal,” he said. “Let’s not go there.”

Sarah Wollaston, a Conservative MP, said she was worried by the “optimism bias” senior ministers like Mr Johnson displayed over Brexit when so many details of the split had not been worked out. “Writing off concerns as somehow obstructing the grand vision won’t help,” she said.

Not all were convinced by his argument that Brexit would be liberalising, pointing out that leaving could erect barriers to trade that had been erased by Europe’s single market.

“Putting up barriers to the movement of trade and people and suggesting that the identity of citizens can only be national is not liberal – it’s quite the opposite,” said Guy Verhofstadt, the Brexit representative for members of the European Parliament.

But Mr Johnson’s bottom line was clear: that Britain should make a clear break with European lawmaking bodies and seek free trade deals around the globe.

Tom Brake, an opposition MP, said that Mr Johnson’s rhetorical flourishes could not disguise a lack of substance in his speech.

“As ever, Boris managed to find time to practise a dead language but failed to tackle the live issues,” he said.