We got Brexit done – now we must capitalise on the freedoms it gave us
Our number one priority would be creating the economic growth we need to become the most prosperous country in Europe
I was advised by people I respected not just that leaving the EU was a bad idea for Britain; they also warned me that backing Brexit would mean the end of my political career.
I listened to the advice, took it seriously, and weighed my decision carefully. But none of it altered my conviction that Britain would be better off outside the EU, unshackled from its low-growth, bureaucratic mindset.
I strongly believe that I made the right decision in backing the Leave campaign. Because of Brexit, 21stcentury Britain will be a sovereign, global, free-trading nation – with full control over its laws, regulations and international trade policy.
While we got Brexit done, however, there is so much more to do now to capitalise on the freedoms it gave us and to ditch the mass of thousands of unnecessary EU laws and regulations holding us back.
Today I make a promise.
If I am elected prime minister, by the time of the next general election, I will have scrapped or reformed all of the EU law, red tape and bureaucracy that is still on our statute book and slowing economic growth.
We have made a start on taking advantage of our Brexit freedoms.
Back in 2016, I argued for the creation of freeports to drive free trade and growth. As Chancellor, I led the Government in turning those ideas into reality – delivering eight freeports that will create jobs and prosperity around the country.
Now we need to put our foot to the accelerator and deliver much more.
My ambition is that the UK should become by far the richest country in Europe within the next 15 years.
As prime minister, I would task a new Brexit Delivery Department with reviewing all of the remaining 2,400 laws on our statute book – with the first set of recommendations as to whether each law should be scrapped or reformed being published within my first 100 days in the job.
We need to remove power from faceless regulators and give that power to MPs in our Parliament.
I would demand results from the Civil Service and Government, with my Brexit Minister producing an annual public report on the progress towards delivering our growth opportunities, and the scrapping or reforming of the other 2,400 EU laws still on our statute book.
There would be three other top priorities from day one.
The Government would scrap the EU financial services regulations we have inherited – including the EU’s Solvency II rules – to trigger a Big Bang 2.0. This will help investors and insurers put money into assets like infrastructure that stimulate growth and will reap long-term rewards.
Second, the Government would also remove the burdens of GDPR, creating in its place the most dynamic data protection regime in the world.
The EU’s byzantine rules are preventing British tech companies from innovating and public services from sharing data to prevent crime.
Third, I would ensure that we can speed up the clinical trials approval process, which is still complicated and slowed down by EU red tape.
Ultimately, the best way to get the cost of living under control is to grow the economy by increasing productivity.
We must seize the opportunities that Brexit gave us and cut back the laws and regulation that are getting in the way.
In my government, our number one priority would be creating the faster economic growth we need to become the most prosperous country in Europe.
We got Brexit done; now we urgently need to seize more of the opportunities it has made available to us.