Mr Speaker,
I would like to thank the Prime Minister for the advance copy of
her statement.
Today we embark on the country’s most important negotiations in
modern times.
The British people made the decision to leave the European Union
and Labour respects that decision.
The next steps along this journey are the most crucial and if the
Prime Minister is to unite this country, as she says she aims to
do the Government needs to listen, consult and represent the
whole country, not just the hard-line Tory ideologues on her own
benches.
Britain is going to change as a result of leaving the European
Union. The question is how. The Conservatives want to use Brexit
to turn our country into a low wage tax haven.
Labour is determined to invest in a high skill, high tech, high
wage future, to rebuild and transform Britain, so no one and no
community is left behind.
Mr Speaker, the direction the Prime Minister is threatening to
take this Country is both reckless and damaging and Labour will
not give this Government a free hand to use Brexit to attack
rights and protections, cut services and create a tax dodgers’
paradise.
So let me be clear, the Prime Minister says that no deal is
better than a bad deal but the reality is; no deal is a bad deal.
Less than a year ago the Treasury estimated that leaving the
European Union on World Trade Organisation terms would lead to a
7.5 per cent fall in GDP and a £45 billion loss of tax receipts.
Has the Treasury updated those figures or do they still stand? If
updated, can they be published? If not, what deal could be worse
than those consequences of ‘no deal’?
It would be a national failure of historic proportions if the
Prime Minister comes back from Brussels without having secured
protection for jobs and living standards.
So we will use every parliamentary opportunity to ensure the
Government is held to account at every stage of the negotiations.
Mr Speaker,
We all have an interest in ensuring the Prime Minister gets the
best deal for this country.
To safeguard jobs and living standards Britain needs full access
to the single market.
The Secretary of State for exiting the EU seems to agree with
this. He stated in this House on 24 January the Government’s plan
is a:
“comprehensive free trade agreement and a comprehensive customs
agreement that will deliver the exact same benefits as we
have”
That is what they have pledged. So will the Prime Minister
confirm today, that she intends to deliver a trade and customs
agreement with “the exact same benefits”?
The same goes for protecting workers’ rights and environmental
standards, protecting Britain’s nations and regions, protecting
Britain’s financial sector and services and making sure there is
no return to a hard border in Northern Ireland.
And when does she expect to be able to guarantee the rights of
all those EU nationals who live, work and contribute to this
country?
And for those British nationals who live in the EU, including
guaranteeing their UK pensions will not be frozen post-Brexit?
Mr Speaker, Brexit would be a huge task for any government.
Yet so far they seem utterly complacent about the scale of the
task ahead and government ministers can’t make up their minds
about their real objectives.
The Foreign Secretary said in October: "Our policy is having our
cake and eating it."
Today the Chancellor said: "We can't have our cake and eat it."
These might seem flippant exchanges from ministers, but these
reflect serious differences about Britain’s negotiating aims.
The Government must speak with a united voice.
The Foreign Secretary is the same man who promised our NHS £350
million pounds a week once we left the EU.
Now he believes that leaving the EU without a deal would be
“perfectly ok”.
It would not be “perfectly OK”. It would damage our economy and
people’s living standards.
Will the Prime Minister confirm she rejects such complacency?
Labour has set out our tests for this Government’s Brexit
negotiations
And we will use all means possible to make sure we hold the
Government to their word on full access to the single market, on
protecting Britain from being dragged into a race to the bottom,
and ensuring our future relationship with the EU is strong and
co-operative.
A relationship where we can work together to bring prosperity and
peace to our continent.
If the Prime Minister can deliver a deal that meets our tests, we
will back her.
More than ever, Britain needs a government that will deliver for
the whole country, not just the few.
And that is the ultimate test of the Brexit deal that the Prime
Minister must now secure.
