If you'd offered Brexiteers like me May's Deal two years ago, we'd have bitten your hand off
Adam Berry/Getty Images
Leaving the European Union after 40 years of membership has been the biggest and most complex political decision in recent history and has, rightly, dominated political debate and the airwaves over the last few years. But I know for many people, who don’t follow the daily intricacies of Westminster, there is a feeling of let’s get on with it and move forwards.
We have had two years of long, hard and at times seemingly tortuous negotiations. But we are now at the point where we have a deal on the table that respects the result of the referendum and is a good deal for the country.
The Prime Minister’s deal delivers on the key asks of those who wanted to leave the EU while providing assurances to the worries of those who wanted to Remain.
There were varying reasons why people voted to Leave the EU, but this deal delivers on all of the fundamentals.
On immigration, the deal delivers on ending the freedom of movement of people from the EU, meaning we can put in place a fairer immigration policy. The fact we had no control over the numbers of people migrating here from the EU meant we had to put stricter controls on migrants from outside of the EU, including people from our friends in the Commonwealth. Ending freedom of movement means we can put in place a level playing-field immigration system, where everyone is judged on what they can offer our country, rather than on where they are from.
On the issue of sovereignty, the deal ends the ability of the European courts to override British law. It takes us out of the Common Agricultural and Fisheries Policies, meaning we regain control of our fishing waters and stop paying expensive subsidies to French farmers.
The deal also ends us sending huge annual payments to the EU, meaning we can spend that money on domestic priorities such as the NHS. And it will allow us to pursue our own trade deals with the rest of the world.
Dare I say it, if those terms had been presented to Brexiteers like myself two years ago, we would have bitten your hand off.
Importantly, the deal also provides assurances to the legitimate worries of those who didn’t want to leave. It includes a two year transition period, giving businesses the certainty and time they need to plan ahead and adapt. It guarantees the residency rights of the EU citizens for which Britain is already home, something, by the way, the EU has so far failed to reciprocate for our citizens. It includes a commitment from the EU for no tariffs or restrictions on trade in goods between us.
And the deal ensures no return to a hard border and the problems that could bring between Northern Ireland and Ireland.
It is a deal that whether you voted to Leave or Remain, we can get behind and importantly move forwards as a nation.
Consider the alternatives. A second referendum, that would reopen divides across the country and damage even further the public’s trust in politicians. Leaving with no deal, which in the short term would throw businesses into turmoil and could lead to an economic shock, something my party would not be forgiven for at the ballot box.
And then there’s Labour. Over the last two years, Jeremy Corbyn has done everything possible to avoid saying what Labour’s actual Brexit policy is. They have invented ‘six tests’, that Labour’s own Shadow International Trade Secretary has described as “bollocks”. They have said they would negotiate things, such as being outside of the EU but having a say on EU trade policy, or remaining in the single market but ending freedom of movement, which the EU has time and again said are categorically not possible. Many of their MPs are agitating for Labour to rip-up their promise to respect the result and re-run the referendum until they get the result they want, in a betrayal of millions of their own voters. Labour would only take us all back to square one.
This deal, which isn’t perfect, which involves compromise, as any negotiation does, is a deal that fundamentally delivers on the will of the British people in a way that doesn’t damage our country’s economic prospects and lets us seize the opportunities that lie ahead.
This week, we are on the cusp of approving that deal and letting the country finally move forwards. If we shun this opportunity, we may come to rue it for years to come.
