Today the Prime Minister made a speech setting out the United Kingdom’s 12 negotiating objectives for Brexit. I have uploaded a letter from the Prime Minister which sets them out below for your information. You can also read the full speech here.
I am pleased that the Prime Minister made this speech today. MPs, businesses, and most importantly my constituents are entitled to know in what direction the Government is taking the country following the vote to leave the European Union last year.
I voted and campaigned for the United Kingdom to remain in the European Union, and I am still disappointed that the country chose to leave. However, my view has always been that, as with any election, we must respect the outcome of the referendum and the will of the people. The referendum would have been a pointless exercise were its result not to be respected. Voters are already disillusioned by politics, and I will not take any action to make this worse.
I was encouraged by the tone of the Prime Minister’s speech. It made it very clear that the United Kingdom will work constructively with the European Union and be a close friend and ally. The Prime Minister said “We will continue to be reliable partners, willing allies and close friends. We want to buy your goods and services, sell you ours, trade with you as freely as possible, and work with one another to make sure we are all safer, more secure and more prosperous through continued friendship” – I fully welcome this. It is absolutely the right approach to take to build a future relationship built on friendship and trust.
It was made clear that the UK will not be a Member of the Single Market. While this has disappointed many, it was almost inevitable this would be the case. Membership of the Single Market, without being an EU member, would mean that most EU law would still apply in the UK, without the UK having any vote over it. European leaders have also made it clear that Single Market membership was incompatible with taking control over immigration, one of the Government’s negotiating objectives. However the Prime Minister has set out an ambition to retain “the greatest possible access” to the Single Market which is again to be welcomed.
The Prime Minister’s speech did not indicate that we are heading for a ‘hard Brexit’, which I have made clear publically would be bad for our country, London and Wimbledon. The Prime Minister wants to seek a Free Trade Agreement that would allow for tariff free and trade as frictionless as possible between the UK and EU. This could be achieved in an ambitious Free Trade Agreement that provides for mutual recognition of each other’s regulatory standards. Whether Brexit is hard or not, will therefore depend on the scale of this Free Trade Agreement.
The Prime Minister will seek for this to be agreed within the 2 year Article 50 process, but with a phased process of implementation, which is something I have called for in order to minimise disruption.
I also welcome that there will be a vote in Parliament on the final deal that has been agreed with the EU. This will ensure that the Government has a strong incentive to keep Parliament updated throughout the negotiations, and to seek the input of MPs into the process. I want there to be the fullest Parliamentary and public scrutiny of the negotiations, this is not only right, but will also make our negotiating position stronger.
I will carefully examine the negotiations as they progress, in particular to ensure that the UK does get the fullest possible access to the Single Market, especially for financial services, which are a key part of London’s economy. In the House of Commons today I asked the Secretary of State for Leaving the European Union if he will pay serious attention to the needs of the financial services industry and seek to achieve mutual recognition of regulations, which would help reduce cross-border friction in trade.
Finally, I am pleased that the Prime Minister has once again made it very clear that she wants to guarantee the rights of EU citizens who are already living in Britain, and the rights of British nationals in other member states. This is something I have previously asked about in the House of Commons. Indeed, the Prime Minister stated that she has already tried to agree such a guarantee, but that some EU leaders did not favour such an agreement at present. I welcome that the Government will try to resolve this matter quickly.
This is a significant time for the future of our country and so, as always, I am very happy to hear and respond to constituents’ views on this matter. Please feel free to respond to email me on [email protected]