Tuesday 27 August 2019
Many people have contacted me to share their views on Brexit, and to ask me what is likely to happen and how I will vote. All I can do is set out the principles which are guiding me:
I campaigned very publicly for Brexit in the 2016 EU referendum. I believe Britain will be a better place when we have full control of our borders, our money, and the people who make our laws. I regret the fact Remain campaigners tried to frighten people with a series of scare stories about an immediate loss of jobs and growth if there was a vote to leave. These ridiculous predictions never happened. I do not want to call them lies but they were certainly untrue and 17.4m people clearly agreed.
In the 2017 general election I again set out very clearly my support for Brexit and received the highest vote share of any candidate in this constituency for decades. Incidentally I have pointed out on many occasions that the parliamentary constituency of Monmouth, which I represent, does not have the same boundaries as the local authority area of Monmouthshire which narrowly voted to stay in. The Monmouth parliamentary constituency contains 10,000 voters in the Torfaen local authority area where there was a huge vote to leave. I will certainly not be listening to people, including some local Labour activists, who are telling me to ignore parts of the constituency!
The Labour and UKIP candidates also stood on a platform with a commitment to delivering Brexit and between us we had over 90 per cent of the votes. I hope that everyone will therefore understand that I will not, under any circumstances, go against democracy and vote to revoke Article 50 in order to prevent Brexit from happening.
I will not support holding another referendum. I believe it would it would be an outrage to ask people to vote again just because MPs do not want to carry out their wishes. In any case, the result of another referendum will not be respected. If Britain voted again for Brexit (as I think it would) then EU supporters in Parliament would continue to ignore the result and vote against it. The leaders of the Liberal Democrats and Green Party have already said they would. The media and big business would continue to try and prevent it from happening. If EU supporters won, then Leave voters would certainly want another referendum. The arguments would continue for decades.
Theresa May’s withdrawal deal was opposed by some because it will take us out of the EU. It was opposed by others because they want a much cleaner break with the EU. The deal was a compromise. It would have taken us out of the EU whilst maintaining a close relationship with it. However, most opposition MPs and a small number of Conservative MPs voted decisively to reject a compromise.
It is possible that a deal will once again be presented to Parliament. If it is, then I would almost certainly support it. However, if it is not or if it is rejected yet again, then we will be left with a straightforward choice between a so-called “hard Brexit” (i.e. trading on World Trade Organization terms) or rejecting Brexit and ignoring the result of the referendum.
If that is the choice, then I will do everything in my power to fulfil the promise I made to the electorate in the 2017 general election and vote to ensure that Brexit happens.
Forbes has ranked the UK as the number one place to do business in the world for two consecutive years and a survey published by KPMG has found that CEOs in the United States, India, China and Japan are more likely to invest in the UK after we leave the EU.
The government is planning for every eventuality in the UK's exit from the EU and over £4bn has been provided on withdrawal preparations, including for a no-deal exit. Important steps are already being taken to support manufacturing industries, including an increase in the annual investment allowance from £200,000 to £1m, and support for the Made Smarter programme promoting automation and digitalisation in the industry.
School funding is already at a record high and set to rise to £43.5bn in 2019-20. I know, however, that concerns remain. That is why new Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced a further £4.6bn with the aim of increasing per pupil funding to at least £4,000 at primary schools and £5,000 at secondary schools. Police funding stands at £14bn for 2019-20, which is £2bn more than in 2015-16. The Prime Minister has also announced plans to hire a further 20,000 police officers over the next three years. I will continue to work hard to ensure that our schools and police are properly funded whatever the outcome of Brexit negotiations.
I can assure you that our food standards will not be reduced in the pursuit of trade deals. Any future trade deal must work for British farmers and consumers. For instance, EU standards on food such as chlorinated chicken will come into UK law through the EU (Withdrawal) Act 2018. EU regulations on hormone treated beef are already part of UK law. These prevent the use of growth hormones in imports and domestic production. These will continue after the UK leaves the EU. I can also assure you that farmers will continue to receive the same cash total in funds for the duration of this Parliament whether or not a deal is reached.
If the UK does leave the EU without a deal, my ministerial colleagues have been clear that the protection of public services in trade deals, including the NHS, is of the highest importance. The NHS offers a universal service that is free at the point of use. It will never be for sale to the private sector and no trade deal will change these principles. The UK also has a long record of assessing the price of medicines according to their clinical value rather than by development cost or international reference prices. I will seek to make sure this continues to be the case after the country leaves the EU.
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Tuesday 26 March 2019
Many people have contacted me to share their views on Brexit, and to ask me what is likely to happen and how I will vote.
The motions being voted on in the House of Commons are being changed at very short notice. These motions are also subject to amendments which may change the original motion in a way that would make me more or less likely to support it. For this reason all I can do is set out the principles which are guiding me:
I campaigned very publicly for Brexit in the referendum. I believe Britain will be a better place when we have full control of our borders, our money, and the people who make our laws. I regret the fact Remain campaigners tried to frighten people with a series of scare stories about an immediate loss of jobs and growth if there was a vote to leave. These ridiculous predictions never happened. I do not want to call them lies but they were certainly untrue and 17.4m people clearly agreed.
In the 2017 general election I again set out very clearly my support for Brexit and received the highest vote share of any candidate in this constituency for decades. Incidentally I have pointed out on many occasions that the parliamentary constituency of Monmouth, which I represent, does not have the same boundaries as the local authority area of Monmouthshire which narrowly voted to stay in. The Monmouth parliamentary constituency contains 10,000 voters in the Torfaen local authority area where there was a huge vote to leave. I will certainly not be listening to people, including some local Labour activists, who are telling me to ignore parts of the constituency!
The Labour and UKIP candidates also stood on a platform with a commitment to delivering Brexit and between us we had over 90 per cent of the votes. I hope everyone will therefore understand that I will not, under any circumstances, go against democracy and vote to revoke Article 50 in order to prevent Brexit from happening.
I will not support holding another referendum. I believe it would be an outrage to ask people to vote again just because MPs do not want to carry out their wishes. In any case, the result of another referendum will not be respected. If Brexit supporters won again, then EU supporters in Parliament, the media and big business would continue to try and prevent it from happening. If EU supporters won, then Leave voters would certainly want another referendum. The arguments would continue for decades.
The Prime Minister’s withdrawal deal is opposed by some because it will take us out of the EU, and it is opposed by others because they want a much cleaner break with the EU. The deal is a compromise. It would take us out of the EU whilst maintaining a close relationship with it.
I understand the concerns that people on both sides have, but sometimes we all have to be willing to compromise and accept we are not going to get exactly what we want.
Leave voters have to understand that a majority of MPs will vote to prevent a no-deal Brexit, and Remain voters have to realise they were on the losing side of a referendum and that even if they do not accept the political and economic arguments for leaving there is also a wider question of democracy.
I myself would be happy to see the UK leave on World Trade Organization (WTO) terms if there was support for this in Parliament, but I will back any form of Brexit that can achieve a majority in Parliament - and I think the one most likely to succeed is the Prime Minister’s deal.
On every vote which takes place I will be voting to ensure that Brexit happens.
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Thursday 17 January 2019
I have always believed that the UK should make its own laws, be responsible for its own borders, and not hand over billions to an organisation which cannot properly account for it. For these reasons I voted for a referendum and campaigned strongly for a leave vote.
Contrary to what some people have been told there is absolutely no way of knowing how the Monmouth constituency voted because the votes were counted over the local authority area of Monmouthshire which has different boundaries. The Monmouth constituency contains 10,000 people who live in Torfaen where there was a 60% vote to leave the EU. I represent everyone and the views of all Monmouth constituency voters are of equal importance to me - no matter whether they live in Monmouthshire or Torfaen.
During the 2017 election campaign I again made clear my complete support for Brexit and was returned with over 50% of the vote - the highest percentage achieved by any candidate since 1959.
Having made this public commitment and been elected accordingly in my view it would be utterly wrong to backtrack in any way from supporting Britain’s exit from the EU and I will not do so under any circumstances.
From the moment the referendum was over however, I stated that we should recognise the concerns of all those who voted Remain and who have concerns about leaving.
When the Prime Minister produced her deal I thought it was a reasonable compromise. It took Britain out of the EU but kept us in the Customs Union for at least 2 years, possibly longer if no trade deal had by then been agreed. It offered stability to businesses who would see no change in their trading arrangements and reassurances to those who worried that leaving the EU would impact on our way of life. I made the argument for the deal on several occasions. At no time was I put under any pressure whatsoever from the Government or the Whips Office to support this deal. In fact two out of the four whips I have had since it was produced resigned because they were less enthusiastic about it than I was!
Unfortunately, this compromise arrangement appears to have very little support in or out of Parliament. Those who voted leave tell me that they want want to be completely out of the EU by the end of March and those who support the EU tell me that they will not support leaving under any circumstances.
I believe that the Government are going to seek further views on a way forward over the next few weeks. I wish the Ministers luck but I cannot see how there would be a consensus for any compromise deal following the historic rejection of the last one.
Two other solutions being suggested are holding a second referendum and delaying or withdrawing Article 50. Delaying Article 50 would simply be postponing further a decision which needs to be taken now. Withdrawing Article 50 and telling the public that they got it wrong and that the MPs know better would be similarly unacceptable.
I would never support holding a second referendum. I believe it would further deepen divisions and be viewed as an outrage by those who voted to leave in 2016, many of whom were voting for the first time, and were told that their decision would be final. We voted for something and we should not be expected to vote again just because some people do not like the result.
The truth seems to be that sadly there is no mood for compromise on this issue in or out of Parliament. Those who voted to leave are now even more committed to leaving, and those who voted to remain are uninterested in any kind of “soft” Brexit and simply want to stay in.
I have always believed that Britain should be out of the EU, and campaigned on this basis throughout the referendum campaign and during the general election. I would like to make absolutely clear that over the coming weeks I will vote in any way to ensure that by the end of March we are out of the EU. The Government should now finish making preparations for a Brexit on WTO terms ( the so-called "hard Brexit"). If the EU are worried about this and return with improvements to the current deal then I hope MPs on all sides will look at it with an open mind. However, the presumption must now be that we will leave without a deal, and given the lack of support for any form of compromise, then I will not hesitate to support this.
