Penny Mordaunt MP welcomes the Prime Minister's plan and vision for Brexit.
- Portsmouth North Conservatives
- Jan 17, 2017
- 2 min read
“I very much welcome the speech today. People want the headlines of what Brexit will look like and the scale of the ambition. I think history will look back at the last year and conclude the referendum was an act of immense courage, vision and leadership by the British people. They have given us an unprecedented opportunity to give our nation what it needs to thrive. The PM was right to note that the decision to leave was not a desire to retreat from the world. Internationalism is in our nation's DNA.
The Prime Minister has already acknowledge the importance of being able to control immigration- whether we need and want more or fewer people coming here to work, we need to be able to control that number and our borders. Without that we cannot properly plan our public services or develop a labour market strategy.
That means we will need to leave the single market, but that membership is not required to trade with Europe. It should perhaps more accurately be called the internal market. We will always be able to trade with Europe- it is in their interest we do. . And to realise all the possibilities of more trade with the rest of the world we will need to be able to control those things upon which trade deals are built, and membership of the customer union would prevent that.
So the PM is right that to maximise Brexit we need a clean break from the EU.
She is right not to set out all the nitty gritty- we need to be able to lever the best arrangement possible for the UK, and that could involve different treatment for particular sectors of the economy.
I think for Portsmouth this brings huge opportunities. We are an export city, and we have huge scope to massively increase the trade we do. Similarly industries such as fishing could be revived, which would be such a complement to our growing hospitality and food sectors.
While we need to protect the negotiating position the more we can say about these opportunities and how we will capitalise on them the better: the more people know about why they should be excited about the future and what is means for them the better. What she has said today should reassure all- Remainers and leavers, and the EU itself. And I am very pleased that she has said she wishes to protect the rights of EU nationals already here- that's the right thing to do."
Penny Mordaunt MP
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