European Council

Peter Bone Excerpts

Monday 18th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I understand that, in the space of one day over the weekend, the shadow Home Secretary rejected a second referendum and the deputy leader of the Labour party said that a second referendum was still on the table. My right hon. Friend the Member for Belfast North (Nigel Dodds) is absolutely right about this particular issue. The best way to get the worst deal would be to suggest that we are going down the route of a second referendum, but it is more than that—I think it would actually be betraying the British people. This Parliament gave the British people a vote, and it is up to us to deliver on the result.

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

Will the Prime Minister give the British people a huge Christmas present by stating that, on 29 March 2019, we will leave the European Union, end the free movement of people and remove the jurisdiction of the European Court, and that the £39 billion we plan to give the European superstate to squander will be spent instead on the NHS, social care and maybe even cutting taxes?

[The Prime Minister]

We will be leaving the European Union on 29 March 2019. We will now be moving quickly to negotiate the details of the relationship during the implementation period which, as I have said, we expect to last for up to, or around, two years. The reason why we will have that implementation period, and why we would expect to continue to trade and operate with the EU on a similar basis to today, is to give businesses the certainty of knowing the basis on which they will be able to operate and so that they will not have to make two sets of changes to their arrangements, such as in relation to customs. There will only be one point at which businesses move to the new partnership. I think that that is a practical matter that most people will understand and appreciate.