European Union (Withdrawal) Act

Rachael Maskell Excerpts

Thursday 6th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister and I have said many times that the choice before this House is very simple: it is this deal, no deal or no Brexit. Those are the opportunities that we have to choose between.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

One of the things that really concerns businesses is the availability of skills with this deal. At the moment, they know that there is a plan for growth, which the Government have in the light of their abysmal record on productivity, but that plan cannot be delivered if skills are migrating back to the EU. How will the Chancellor address that?

--- Later in debate ---

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

As this debate has progressed, the limitations of the Prime Minister’s deal have been exposed. We have witnessed a process whereby Brexit has come to mean a charade in which transparency and accountability have been dodged, with total disregard for the concerns that people had when they voted. My interpretation of the vote on 23 June 2016 has always been that our country is divided. We can argue that more people were in favour of leave on a particular date, but politics should not be about a race over the finish line, but about reading the times, listening to the multifaceted and complicated reasons why people made their choices and then seeking to resolve the concerns raised on all sides. As it happens, my constituency in York voted overwhelmingly to remain. I respect my constituents and believed it was my duty to reflect their vote when it came to article 50, and I rightly could not trust the Government.

We must remind ourselves of the febrile political environment in the lead up to the referendum and that some of the worst xenophobia and racism was propagated across different media. We recall the financial pressures that were levied upon our constituents. The cuts to services were severe, jobs were insecure, opportunities were denied and many people were struggling. Over the past two and a half years, people across our nation would have expected the Government to have reached out and responded to the causes of the divisions in our country, but the Government have failed.

My constituents live in the most inequitable city outside the capital. Since the referendum, the cuts have deepened, with the worst-funded schools and one of the worst-funded health services. Crime is up; good jobs have been lost; and constituents and businesses alike feel seriously let down. The casework I deal with is, frankly, so shocking and heartbreaking that I struggle to believe that we live in a so-called society. The economic analysis released last week shows that things will get worse. None of us came into politics to make people poorer, but this deal will.

My excellent universities in York, which have an exemplary reputation across the EU due to their success in winning EU research projects, will lose out significantly. As will our local economy, which is already struggling to find people to work in the hospitality sector and in the care sector, caring for our most vulnerable.

I was flabbergasted to see that the Government’s deal, after two years of uncertainty, fails to recognise how business needs time to plan and work with the market; further uncertainty only adds risk to our economy, not least on future customs arrangements.

For a negotiator it is plain to see that leverage is needed in negotiating a future deal, and the political declaration provides no such security. Worse, we all know that industry and services have lost confidence in our great nation due to this Government’s Brexit framework, and they are slowly and steadily sliding across the border into the EU, further weakening the Government’s position.

As the vote highlighted that the nation is divided, my test is whether the Prime Minister has demonstrated that she has the capability, through her deal, to unite our country. This deal does not achieve that. People did not vote just on technicalities or institutions; they voted on the wider context of their lived experience.

Politics is not just transactional; it is all-encompassing. Labour has an agenda that will address inequality, division and poverty, and that will end austerity. It will heal our broken nation and rebuild relationships across the EU and beyond, bringing real hope and security. Our future lies with this Labour party being in government and healing our nation.