Robert Halfon: If there’s a spare £40 billion going, we should spend it in the UK, not hand it to Brussels
The referendum must be honoured, and we must leave the EU. That shouldn’t mean giving away a fortune for the privilege.
The referendum must be honoured, and we must leave the EU. That shouldn’t mean giving away a fortune for the privilege.
Hammond’s plan – from abolishing Stamp Duty for most first-time buyers, through to reforms to help Universal Credit recipients.
Letting disagreements about Brexit leak into the Budget’s treatment could deal the Government irreparable damage – and voters much harm.
The first piece of our series on the coming economic revolution urges the Government to challenge Corbyn’s Luddite approach.
The Government should be as Ready on Day One as it can be: Deal or No Deal. To help achieve this end and reboot economic policy, Gove should go to the Treasury.
“He is the Red Adair of the administration – the middle-order batsman who, if the openers are out cheaply, ensures that the middle order does not collapse.”
Not only would many borrowers feel pain, but the Opposition might well be tempted to seize the chance to pile on the pressure.
The truth is that any money committed now will return multiples of cost in a reduced price for an agreement with the EU.
The architects of Project Fear seem locked into a state of permanent depression about the UK’s future.
The Government needs to make a decision on our post-Brexit economic model, reinvigorate the Conservatives in office – and win the votes of the next generation.
The key question is not whether we can diverge, but whether we can do so without asking the EU first and obtaining their prior agreement.
The difference between us and the Labour is that we deal with the world and reality as it is – not as some utopia we would like it to be.
May needs to demonstrate that Whitehall is prepared – deal or no deal. Crossing one’s fingers and hoping for transition is not an alternative, or shouldn’t be.
From speaking to civil servants, it seems that – at least until recently – the Cabinet had not properly considered either a preferred end state or indeed transition policy.
Britain could flourish under the minimalist WTO-type settlement that seems to be his bottom line. But it is not the optimal outcome, and threatens a significant downside.