Secretary of State for Exiting the EU's speech at Prosperity UK conference

Thank you Jonathan for that over-flattering introduction – the sort that my father would have enjoyed and my mother might have believed.

It is fair to say that when I accepted the invitation some months ago to speak today, I had rather expected this conference to fall in a nice quiet period just before the Council decided its negotiating guidelines. So, so much for political predictions.

I had certainly not anticipated that we’d be in the middle of a general election campaign.

So for all the arguments that there will be over the next six weeks I know that here there are people from both sides of the debate, from all parties and none, and I am speaking today as a Secretary of State.

So you will understand— and probably you’ll be relieved — that I do not intend to indulge in any election knockabout today. This is going to be a very serious speech.

I am genuinely delighted to see Prosperity UK emerge in the spirit of forging consensus, as you’ve been hearing this morning.

Your commitment to moving beyond the divisive arguments of the past and looking constructively to the future is absolutely the right one, and one the Prime Minister and I both share. And although you have lost some ministerial speakers today because of the General Election, you still absolutely have our interest and attention, which I will return to later.

My sense is that the majority of people, however they voted in last summer’s referendum, now want the Government to get on with the job of negotiating and implementing the UK’s exit and seeking a new partnership with the European Union.

This week, it will be a month since the UK’s historic notification to the European Council of our intention to leave.

The Prime Minister was very clear about our approach, and the spirit in which we approach these negotiations. It is a straightforward plan with clear principles.

We are leaving the European Union, but we are not leaving Europe.

This means our primary aim is to get a good deal on our new relationship with the EU.

We want to establish a deep and special partnership with the European Union for the future.

And it is in the interests of both the UK and the European Union that we establish that new partnership in as fair and orderly a way as possible, with the minimum disruption for all.

I believe it is time for the country to come together with those goals in mind.

And Prosperity UK has an important role to play in this journey.

We won’t succeed without the wisdom and energy of the institutions represented in this room.

You are all a key part of what has made the United Kingdom a success in the past, and are a key part of what will ensure we go from success to success and strength to strength in the future.

Process of withdrawal

Now that given, we should be under no illusions about the scale of the task ahead of us.

We are reshaping Britain’s place in the world.

Securing an agreement with the EU, within the two year period, about our withdrawal and the shape of our future relationship will be challenging.

We will have difficult issues to confront. Compromises will be necessary on both sides. We know all this.

And even as the election campaign proceeds, the work of Government goes on to prepare for the negotiations.

I have visited a number of countries even in the last few days, let alone in the last few weeks, to talk to my EU counterparts and that will go on through the Election too.

Jean-Claude Juncker, Michel Barnier – my opposite number – and others are coming to London today to meet the Prime Minister and our team.

Some are determined, for their own reasons, to focus on the differences between us, and seize on every potential hurdle to success.

But the UK has a very good reason to feel optimistic.

The discussions I have had confirmed to me that on both sides, negotiations with our European partners will be conducted in a spirit of sincere cooperation. It is a spirit we have shared through our common history.

Indeed, one of my key messages on my visits to the four countries over the past couple of days, and more than a dozen over a longer period, is that the UK wants to see the European Union succeed and prosper, politically, socially and economically.

And when it comes to it, our European partners know — even those that were most dismayed by our departure after the UK referendum result — that it will be in their interests for the UK to do the same.

The vote to leave the EU did not signal any desire to do damage to the European Union or its 27 remaining member states.

Nor was it a rejection of the values that we share as fellow Europeans.

Now, there have been some suggestions that the UK might now seek to take a ‘divide and rule’ approach to the Union in the upcoming negotiations.

Far from it.

We want the European Union to be united. Not just for the good of our continent, but also because it makes sense in the negotiations upon which we are about to embark. We want the negotiations to be swift and effective so unity amongst the 27 helps with that.

Given that the subject matter is complex and time is tight, the unity of the European Union will therefore be important for both sides.

Remember too, the unprecedented regulatory alignment we already enjoy between our two markets.

We trust each other’s institutions and there is no reason whatsoever that this should not continue.

We start from an assumption of convergence and shared values that should make these discussions easier.

As we have made clear, we enter the process seeking to negotiate the shape of our future relationship with the EU alongside the terms of our withdrawal, within the two-year window provided for by Article 50.

I believe it is important to ensure that we can implement that agreement effectively and in a timely manner, something that will be in the interests of both sides.

That means as much certainty and stability as possible for the UK economy — and the economies of the individual EU Member States — to adapt to our new partnership.

And it means we will seek to avoid any cliff-edges. And that desire to avoid cliff edges is, I know from my own conversations, shared by a number of European nations that I have spoken to.

That is one of the reasons that, the day after Article 50 was triggered, the Government published a White Paper on what is called the Great Repeal Bill.

As I have explained the Bill will, among other things, convert EU law as it applies, at the point we depart, into UK domestic law on the day we leave.

This means that, as far as possible, the same laws and rules will apply immediately before and immediately after our departure, enabling a smooth and stable transition.

Our Parliament will then be in control of any changes that are in the national interest thereafter.

Given that, we should favour an intelligent approach to regulation in the years ahead.

Yes, we must avoid unnecessary burdens on business. But we also want to make sure that our approach maintains or ensures new access to markets, from Croatia to California. The regulations must have that in mind.

 

Deep and special partnership

As the Prime Minister has said on many occasions, whilst we are leaving the institutions of the European Union, we will not be leaving Europe itself or the European region itself.

The values that we share run deeper than the politics of institutional relationships.

They were forged long before the United Kingdom joined the European Economic Community as it was then, and will endure long after we leave the EU.

We intend to continue to be a reliable partner and a willing ally to our closest neighbours.

We want a new, deep and special partnership with Europe.

At the core of this partnership should be an ambitious and comprehensive Free Trade Agreement of unprecedented scope.

We will seek the freest possible trade in goods and services between the UK and the EU, and we want to continue to give businesses the freedom to operate within European markets.

It is also vitally important to continue our collaboration in the areas of science, research, education, and technology, to maintain Britain’s status as a world leader in these sectors and so that we can play our full part in advancing Europe’s collective excellence here, so important for our mutual future prosperity.

This is a key part of building a truly Global Britain.

Now, some of you in this room have spoken to me or my colleagues directly about your concerns, so I want to take a moment to address some of these specific issues.

Firstly, the Government has made it very clear that it wants to secure the rights of EU nationals living in Britain at the earliest opportunity in the negotiations.

Citizens of EU Member States make a vital contribution to our society and our economy.

And while we want to control immigration in the future, I do not think anyone wants to pull up the drawbridge—and a Global Britain will always welcome the brightest and the best.

Secondly, we want no return to the borders of the past in Northern Ireland, and I can guarantee that stability there will be the key priority when we look to the future in our negotiations

Happily, these areas are ones in which the EU and the UK thinking is closely aligned. I am confident that we can work positively with Michel Barnier’s team to achieve early agreement on these key issues.  Very early agreement on these key issues.

But it is also important that we focus on embracing the opportunity of Brexit, as well as addressing the challenges.

We can reach out beyond the borders of Europe to some of the fastest growing export markets in the world.

At a time when the entire Western world faces great challenges from automation and the changing nature of work, we need to be flexible.

The EU is many things, and we wish it every success, but making our own decisions, as one, sovereign country, I do not doubt that we can be more agile and more responsive.

Not least because we start from an incredibly strong position. We are a great, global nation with so much to offer Europe and so much to offer the world.

We are one of the world’s largest and strongest economies. We have the finest intelligence services, the bravest armed forces, the most effective hard and soft power, and friendships, partnerships and alliances on every continent in the world.

So let me be clear; the UK’s departure from the EU should not be viewed through a protectionist lens. We want to reach out to our old friends and new allies alike and say: Britain is open for business.

I hope that you will also share my optimism about Britain’s bright future.

And if I may I am going to deviate slightly from my set speech here and just say something personal to this.

One of the problems… now democracy is a massively important thing. But one of the things that happens in political arguments is sometimes the most important issues are not the most exciting in the news. It is the battles over disagreements that dominate things.

And sometimes —and the last time I said — we have lost a little sight of the importance of those new opportunities that we will enjoy.

And that is why I made a point of coming today despite the problems of  the general election and doing ministerial speeches because what you are doing — this meeting, this conference — and Prosperity UK are addressing exactly the sort of issues that I think we have noticed already.

And the Government will do its best to ensure that those opportunities are available to everybody. But before I was a politician I was a businessman and I am acutely conscious that, whilst the Government can facilitate the opportunities, what converts the opportunities into innovation, investment, jobs, wealth creation, is civil society and business, not government.

And that is why your meeting today, your conference today, is incredibly important and why I shall read very carefully the outcomes of your discussions today and others you have in the future.

Because in our policy formation — to try to create and maximise those opportunities — knowing exactly how you will use them, the problems you see, the issues you see, the opportunities you see, will be incredibly important to us.

So I want to reiterate what I said briefly at the beginning, my thank you to Jonathan Hill and Paul Marshall for setting this up because actually this is a massively important meeting for helping us to achieve the best future for our country.

So, working together, we can ensure that it goes from strength to strength in the years ahead.

With cool heads, strong leadership and traditional British resolve, we can build a stronger, fairer, more Global Britain than ever before. Thank you very much indeed.