In 100 days, the United Kingdom will leave the institutions of the European Union.
17.4million people tasked us with changing the course of our country’s future and transforming ourselves into an outward-looking, strong, free-trading nation.
They didn’t vote for us to leave Europe or to pursue an isolationist future. They want us to remain a good friend and protector to our European neighbours through Nato and joint security arrangements. But they want us to do this as an independent country.
It is possible to be a proud European nation without belonging to the institutions of the European Union. In 2019 we are going to show how.
The referendum in 2016 was a pivotal moment in the history of the United Kingdom. It was the biggest vote for anything in British history. Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair won landslide election victories with 3-4 million fewer votes.
The challenge of delivering the referendum result was never going to be easy. Unraveling over 40 years of legal intertwinement would always take a lot of effort, much like a ball of string! The prime minister has worked tirelessly on this and is committed to serving her country and delivering its citizens’ order.
But the very fact that the entire machinery of the British government is devoted to re-hashing “Project Fear” tells you everything you need to know about the proposed withdrawal agreement. It is not Brexit, it does not honour the referendum result or our (or indeed Labour’s) manifesto commitments. It would put our country in a weak position both constitutionally and economically.
We are being asked to sign a cheque for £39billion to the EU – not for a trade deal but simply for the right to step off the EU merry-go-round.
The prime minister’s present treaty proposal asks us to fire a backstop-sized arrow deep into the beating heart of the United Kingdom. It would imperil our Union by treating Northern Ireland differently to the rest of the UK and forces us to obey EU rules without having a say, unless the EU and its members give permission. That’s not Brexit.
Not only does the proposed deal get us nothing in return, it hands over all our bargaining chips as an early EU Christmas present, stifles and controls our future choices and destroys our chances of negotiating meaningful trade deals.
In the final 100 days of negotiations we’ve got to rekindle some fighting spirit. Let’s bring to the fore a positive framework to our future partnership with the EU which is grounded in a real third party, sovereign relationship. This will only be achieved if those who are driving the negotiations actually believe in the UK – our great and enduring union of four nations – and see the upsides of the opportunity the referendum has given us to stretch out once again.
The referendum result is not something to be feared.
The British people recognise, as I do, that around 90% of global economic growth will come from outside the EU in the years ahead, and that the EU now accounts for less than half of our overall trade.
Over 90% of all trade travels by sea, and we are inextricably linked to this global network, as a proud maritime trading nation for the last 400 years. British goods and services are recognised as the best in the world, and sought after by global customers. This will not change.
We must look beyond the shores of our European continent and be prepared and unafraid of walking away from negotiations – and saving each family £1,400 – if the final deal offered by the EU does not deliver Brexit. We only need to be ready to trade under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules: international laws that regulate the trading relationships of 164 member states and around 98% of global trade.
We must diffuse the lies and aggression of Project Fear (Mark 2) for good. Since 2016, in spite of dire predictions made during the referendum campaign, we’ve seen a tax windfall, the fastest growth in wages in almost a decade, record employment levels and steady economic growth. Voters comprehensively rejected establishment scare stories during the 2016 referendum debate – and it turns out that they were absolutely right to do so.
This is a battle of optimism versus pessimism; between hope and fear. It pits those who believe in our country’s post-Brexit potential against people who think that this great country of ours has somehow lost the ability to stand on its own two feet.
The debate is between vested interests, with global structures who would much prefer democracies to be emasculated, and the voices of individual citizens, of small businesses, of communities, who have a strong sense of place and want to have more direct control over their community or business.
What is so special or outrageous about us becoming an independent sovereign nation working in partnership with – rather than being tied to and restricted by – a supranational organisation?
The referendum result asks parliament to restore the freedoms and sovereign control that the vast majority of countries around the world live by: control of our immigration policy, to leave the jurisdiction of the European Court and to determine our own trade policy.
Let’s reject this deal and leave the EU in no doubt that we stand ready to operate under the internationally binding rules of the World Trade Organisation. Perhaps they will then take us seriously and reconsider their proposals.
As we welcome in a new year, let’s show that we believe in ourselves as a country and that we’re willing to explore and nurture the opportunities leaving the EU opens up to us.
The British people stood ready in 2016 to proudly call for our nation’s independence, to put our destiny in our hands and for us to become a self-governing, free-trading nation once again.
Let’s deliver for the people and match their unparalleled ambitions for this great nation of ours.
Anne-Marie Trevelyan is the Conservative MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed