Prime Minister’s Statement

Debate between Steve Brine and Boris Johnson

Saturday 19th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady, but I direct her to the answers I have already given on that point. Many business groups have already come out in support of the deal because it gives certainty and stability and allows the country to move on. I think it will, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire (Stephen Crabb) just said, unleash a great deal of investment in the UK.

[Steve Brine (Winchester) (Ind)]

I thank the Prime Minister for his statement and the tone in which he has delivered it. He and I have had some robust conversations in the last six weeks, and he has done what he promised me he would do: sought a Brexit deal and brought it back to this House. I was pleased to hear him mention the 48%. There are a lot of people for whom we need the losers’ consent to deliver Brexit safely. Does he agree that the way to do that is with the deal he has proposed, which is well worthy of all our support?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend’s support means a great deal to me. He and I did have long conversations about this, and I did my best to convince him that I was in earnest in seeking a deal. I truly was, and I am very pleased with the result that we have secured. I am delighted that he feels able to support it tonight. To get back to the key point, the deal gives people who love Europe, in the broadest possible way, a real chance to move forward and work with us to develop a new partnership with our European friends. That is the opportunity. Everything else is stasis and division. This is the way forward.

Brexit Negotiations

Debate between Steve Brine and Boris Johnson

Thursday 3rd October 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I reject the suggestion that what we are doing is not in conformity with the Good Friday agreement; indeed, it is intended to build on the Good Friday agreement. If it would help the hon. Lady, I would be more than happy to talk to her about our plans and to elucidate the matter to her.

[Steve Brine (Winchester) (Ind)]

On 3 September, I asked the Prime Minister for some evidence of an emerging deal; you will remember it well, Mr Speaker. Last week I asked him again, and I thank him for the outline of the detail that he gave in response to me. Today I do not need to do that, because he has set out some real meat to Mr Juncker in his letter. I am very pleased to see it. I knew he wanted a deal, and he told me he wanted a deal, and I believe him. So can he confirm that consent in Northern Ireland lies at the heart of this over there; and that more importantly, compromise over here, in this House of Commons, is at the heart of getting this done? Can he also confirm that those who want to avoid no deal—like me, like him—now need to do the right thing and vote for a deal?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend, for whom I have a high regard. I well remember our conversation a few weeks ago. He makes his point with great clarity and force. Those who oppose a no-deal Brexit—I appreciate the sincerity of the feelings of those who oppose a no-deal Brexit—logically really should support this way forward, and I hope that they do.

Prime Minister's Update

Debate between Steve Brine and Boris Johnson

Wednesday 25th September 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady. As I have said many times this afternoon, I accept the judgment of the Supreme Court. However, I also say to the hon. Lady in all candour that the humblest and most responsible thing we could all do as parliamentarians is show that we respect the judgment of the people and take this country out on 31 October.

[Steve Brine (Winchester) (Ind)]

On 3 September, I asked the Prime Minister, given his view then that the chance of a deal had increased and that things were moving—as he said to me at the time—what evidence of that progress he could put before the House. I think that the Prime Minister is unfairly maligned, because I have sat face to face with him, as have many others, and I know he wants a deal. In the light of encouraging noises from him and his Ministers in recent days and, as he said in his statement, from the EU, I ask him again this evening: he says we are making progress, but what does it look like? He needs to bring together a majority across the House to get a deal through and show that to EU leaders. As I said, he is unfairly maligned, so what can he put before the House to give us that encouragement?

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, and, as I said to the House in my opening statement, we have moved a long way off the idea that the withdrawal agreement was the law of the Medes and the Persians—fixed, immutable, graven in tablets of stone. That has absolutely gone. We have moved a long way from the idea that the backstop had to be retained in all circumstances. My hon. Friend will have heard Jean-Claude Juncker himself say that he no longer had any—I think he said erotic—fixation with the backstop.

In concrete terms—this might be helpful to the House—there are three areas in which progress is being made. The first concerns the concept of the alternative arrangements, which I know has been discussed many times in this House—I know that many right hon. and hon Members have gone over it many times, but it is a fruitful area of discussion. The second idea, which is also extremely fruitful, is the concept of doing everything we can to maintain the unity of the island of Ireland for sanitary and phytosanitary purposes. As I am sure my hon. Friend, who has studied these matters closely, will acknowledge, that is a big concession by the UK Government and a big advance. It needs to be handled with care and we need to get the balance right, but we think that progress can be made in that area. The third concept, which I already mentioned in my opening remarks, is the idea of consent. Consent holds the key. There is a problem with the backstop, as hon. Members who sit on the Opposition Benches will recall—I heard some very good speeches against it from the Opposition Benches. The problem with the backstop is that it does not repose the locus of authority here in the UK, and we need to remedy that. I am sure that my hon. Friend understands that point, too.

G7 Summit

Debate between Steve Brine and Boris Johnson

Tuesday 3rd September 2019 Commons Chamber

[Steve Brine (Winchester) (Con)]

As the Prime Minister knows, my constituents are passionately pro-deal, and I think he is too; in fact I know he is—he has told me that personally and he has told the House many times. But can I bust one of the most dishonest myths of all, which is that one cannot respect the referendum result and be in favour of leaving with a deal? That is where I and, I think, all my constituents are. The Prime Minister has said today that the chances of a deal have increased and that things are moving. What evidence of progress can he put before the House before the vote this week? It could be critical to where people such as me go.

[The Prime Minister]

I would just make one point: before we began our efforts, it was common ground with the EU27 that every dot and comma of the withdrawal agreement was immutable and could not be changed, but that is no longer the case. We are already shifting them, in Ireland, in Berlin and in France. Progress is being made, and now is not the time to slacken that work.