The Prime Minister today set out the greatest detail to date on her plans to leave the EU at a speech at Lancaster House. She was criticised for setting out her proposals to an audience of businessmen, ambassadors and foreign diplomats rather than parliament but she did appear to concede, in the course of her speech, that parliament will have a vote on the final outcome of the negotiations. She’d previously sought to block this at the Supreme Court.
The key message of the speech was that the PM will strive to get the best deal possible on trade, universities and research and justice and security measures but she has decided to put control of immigration first and that almost certainly means leaving the Single Market.
Steve McCabe criticised the speech in terms of the risks it poses for the car industry and other manufacturers in the West Midlands and her failure to guarantee the status of EU nationals currently living in the UK.
He said that the Prime Minister’s plan risked jobs and although she claimed ‘no deal was better than a bad deal’ her proposals could end up with the other 27 countries imposing their deal on the UK. He was particularly concerned that she again failed to guarantee the status of EU nationals in the UK. Steve has repeatedly said that there can be no question on ‘sending home’ EU nationals and people living here in the UK or UK nationals living in Europe shouldn’t be used as bargaining chips. Steve recently conducted a comprehensive survey on Brexit with his constituents which revealed that 71% of people feel the government should commit to giving EU citizens living and working in the UK the right to remain here.
Theresa May outlined her Brexit plan today confirming that the final Brexit deal would put before Parliament . The PM rowed back on her previous statements about remaining in the single market, saying Britain would not remain a member. Steve is concerned that this U-turn is yet another signal that Mrs May isn’t getting anywhere with her negotiations and isn’t in control as she has been making out.
Steve McCabe MP said:
“Today’s Brexit speech from the Prime Minister has shown that we face a bumpy ride. I’m grateful for some more detail but worried about the risk to jobs and I don’t think people living here should be used as bargaining chips in any future negotiations.”
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