14Esther McVey

The Northern Powerhouse

MAKE no mistake, Brexit will be Britain’s saviour. The Brexit vision to “take back control” is now gaining traction across Europe. Donald Tusk, who mocked the Brexiteers for such a simplistic slogan back in 2016, and who said Brexiteers had a “special place in hell” when he was European Council President, has now adopted the Brexit slogan as he hits the campaign trail in a bid to become Poland’s next PM.

“Poles” he said, “must regain control over their country and its borders,” before criticising the

Law and Justice party for failing to stop migrants from Islamic countries arriving in Poland. What a hypocrite.

Perhaps Tusk’s vitriol and condescension those few short years ago was not because Brexiteers were wrong, but rather that he could see they were right, and he realised the restrictions enforced by the EU were creating huge issues that would encourage other countries to want to peel away from the European Union project.

Only now that he’s left his cosy, well-paid job at the EU is he able to voice his thoughts. Isn’t it amazing how many politicians find their principles once they leave office.

Concern about migration and taking back control isn’t limited to Poland. Look at all the main players in the EU – Italy, Spain, France and Germany – and see how the voting public there are deserting their pro-EU parties in search of those who will show them a way out of their problems by “taking back control”.

Italy has elected a right-wing coalition led by a post-Fascist party, and whilst Giorgia Meloni has not yet rocked the EU boat, it will certainly be on the cards if the European Central Bank stops absorbing Italian debt.

Germany, now in recession, is furious with the ECB for holding interest rates low for too long, and for continuing with quantitative easing. The fault lines are quickly appearing across the EU.

In France, the riots demonstrate the frustration of the public, pushing Marine Le Pen up the popularity stakes. Recent polls suggest that she would win up to 55 per cent of the vote. Spain too is almost certain to swing to the conservative Partido party.

Britain was right to do Brexit. It did it in the most orderly way, through a public vote and through a democratic process.

We need to take advantage of our hard-won and new-found freedoms, before the rest of the EU copy us and catch up.

What we mustn’t do, is what Keir Starmer and the Labour Europhiles want, and try to get us back under EU control.