As the Labour leadership contest lumbers into life, Wes Streeting and Andy Burnham are flashing their Rejoin credentials, attempting to distract from their terrifying lack of thought-through policy.
More than half our imports come from the EU. To get economic growth we would achieve more if we concentrated on import reduction from Europe including the EU by making and growing more at home. Let’s start with oil, gas and electricity, and move onto backing our farms and market gardens to grow more of what we need to cut the food miles.
Calling for a ‘proper Brexit’ after all those that have been tried and failed over the past decade, is reminiscent of those Marxists arguing that their ideology was never properly tried in practice and next time will be different.
Beyond the economic impact, there’s a deeper political issue at stake. Ending free movement was a cornerstone of the 2016 Brexit vote.
Rather than “fully and faithfully implementing” the treaty, they have acted recklessly in not only ignoring safeguards but kicking away one of the two props that helped to mitigate economically destructive consequences
Withdrawal from the ECHR would upset the delicate political balance in Northern Ireland, compromise our extradition and security arrangements, and damage our moral authority abroad. Above all, it would betray a tradition of liberty under the law that Britain itself helped to shape.
Labour have been squandering a golden opportunity. The sands of the international trade system built in the 90s are shifting considerably. It is obvious that newly nimble countries like our own have an enormous advantage over the sclerotic bureaucratic blocs like the EU.
Taxes are higher, energy prices are elevated, and we have been reluctantly pulled back into the European Union. We have shifted from being rule-makers to rule-takers.
The public will come to see the need for more prudence and better priorities for spending as the economy loses more jobs and the government’s borrowing bill means higher taxes.
It is a salutary reminder that every piece of legislation, every clause, every amendment, has a consequence in the real world, and a price that is usually paid by businesses and people, even years later.
The UK needs to offer a bold tariff free trade agreement to the US and set out a growth strategy that lowers taxes, gets entrepreneurs and investors back to the UK, and rebuilds our main industries.
Britain should still play a constructive role as a bridge between America and Europe – but Brexit makes that harder.
If Britain hangs back out of a combination of Europhile nostalgia and anti-Trumpery, it risks being left standing when the music stops. The Government should take the win.
During his four years in office Joe Biden allowed more oil and gas drilling – on top of the 50 per cent increase under Donald Trump – permitting more cheaper energy to be made available to American business.
It is time that the conservative movement showed its adaptability once again by understanding that Global Britain and European Britain are not mutually exclusive but rather complementary.