Intolerable, undemocratic, a disastrous betrayal
...Boris’s warning on staying shackled to EU after Brexit
BORIS Johnson will today warn that keeping Britain shackled to EU laws after Brexit would be ‘intolerable, undemocratic’ and make it all but impossible to sign trade deals.
In a major speech titled A United Kingdom, the Foreign Secretary will call on Leave and Remain campaigners to come together for the future of the country.
Setting out his upbeat vision, Mr Johnson will say leaving the EU is ‘grounds for hope, not fear’ – and will warn that any attempts to reverse the referendum would be a ‘disastrous mistake and a betrayal’.
He will also argue efforts by Remain supporting ministers to keep Britain closely aligned with Brussels rules after Brexit would not amount to ‘taking back control’.
The British people should not have new laws imposed from abroad, he will declare, extolling the benefits of leaving the EU’s customs union and the single market.
Mr Johnson’s demand that Britain should have a clean break from Brussels rules will ratchet up the pressure on Theresa May, who is seeking to find a compromise to please the warring factions of her Cabinet.
During talks, Mr Johnson has faced resistance from Chancellor Philip Hammond and Home Secretary Amber Rudd, who fear moving too far from EU regulations could damage existing export markets.
Some Tories fear the Foreign Secretary could walk out of the Government if the Prime Minister attempts a fudge that does not see Britain fully go its own way after Brexit.
In a newspaper article today, Mr Johnson will describe Britain’s departure from the EU as ‘the great project of our age’.
Writing in The Sun, he will say: ‘ When the history books come to be written, Brexit will be seen as just the latest way in which the British bucked the trend and took the initiative – and did something that responds to the needs and opportunities of the world today.’
His speech is the first of six by Mrs May and Cabinet members to set out the Government’s road map for Brexit. Brexit Secretary David Davis, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox and Mrs May’s deputy David Lidington are set to speak in coming weeks. In Westminster this morning, Mr Johnson will warn Europhiles that efforts to stay in the EU would permanently damage the trust of voters.
‘I fear some people are becoming ever more determined to stop Brexit, to reverse the referendum vote of June 23, 2016, and to frustrate the will of the people,’ he will say. ‘I believe that would be a disastrous mistake that would lead to permanent and ineradicable feelings of betrayal. We cannot and will not let it happen.
‘But if we are to carry this project through to national success, as we must, we must also reach out to those who still have anxieties.’
He will add: ‘I want to try today to anatomise at least some of those fears and to show to the best of my ability that they are unfounded and that the very opposite is usually true – that Brexit is not grounds for fear but hope.’
Reaching out to Remainers, Mr Johnson will say the country ‘must not repeat the mistakes of the past when pro-EU voices too often ignored the voices of those who opposed EU membership’. ‘It is not good enough to say to Remainers – you lost, get over it; because we must accept that many are actuated by entirely noble sentiments, a real sense of solidarity with our European neighbours and a desire for the UK to succeed,’ he will say.
But Mr Johnson, who yesterday returned to work in London after a tour of south Asia, will also take a swipe at the leaked civil servant reports that claimed Britain would be better off if it stays closely tied to Brussels.
He will say: ‘The British people should not have new laws affecting their everyday lives imposed from abroad, when they have no power to elect or remove those who make those laws … To those who worry about coming out of the customs union or the single market – please bear in mind the economic benefits of membership are nothing like as conspicuous or irrefutable as is sometimes claimed.’
Mr Johnson will add: ‘It is only by taking back control of our laws that UK firms and entrepreneurs will have the freedom to innovate, without the risk of having to comply with some directive devised by Brussels … That would be intolerable, undemocratic, and would make it all but impossible for us to do serious free trade deals.’
Theresa May is expected to outline Britain’s Brexit blueprint in talks with Angela Merkel this week. The Prime Minister will meet the German Chancellor on Friday as part of a diplomatic charm offensive aimed at kick-starting talks on a future trade deal. The decision to fly to Berlin hours before delivering a key Brexit speech will be seen as a bid to win over Europe’s most powerful politician.
‘The freedom to innovate’
IN a hugely welcome blast of optimism, Boris Johnson sets out today to allay the fears of Remainers and focus on a bright future after we pull out of the EU, the single market and the customs union.
His tone is conciliatory to those who voted Remain – many of them, as he says, actuated by the noblest of motives. But as he rightly points out, the economic benefits of membership are nothing like as irrefutable as some have claimed.
Indeed, many non-EU countries have seen far more rapid growth in their exports to the EU than we have – even though we pay a vast membership fee. Meanwhile, Brexit will free our world- beating entrepreneurs from Brussels directives aimed at holding them back.
Too often, ministers have seemed to approach Brexit as an exercise in damage limitation. This paper hopes the Foreign Secretary’s determinedly upbeat speech will be the first of many, switching the emphasis to the magnificent opportunities waiting to be seized.