European Union (Withdrawal) Act

Sarah Jones Excerpts

Thursday 6th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[Sarah Jones (Croydon Central) (Lab)]

Following on from the hon. Member for Gloucester (Richard Graham), and at this late stage, having sat here for many hours waiting to be called, I cannot help but be reminded of Oliver Cromwell’s words on dissolving the Long Parliament:

“You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing.”

Nevertheless, we carry on.

For MPs like me who joined this House in 2017, there has always been the backdrop of Brexit and the one great matter that lay ahead after the referendum: how to respect the result in a way that does not trash the economy but does bring the country back together again—that unites our nation as it was so memorably in 2012, when the world admired our Olympics and we all glowed with pride at what we had done and the country that we had become. That feels like another century, not six years ago.

That is all because the Prime Minister has squandered every chance she had to make a Brexit that brought us together again. She came to power, let us face it, on a wave of good will because she stepped up when others did not—but that has now evaporated. In Croydon Central, hundreds of people have sought me out to tell me their views, and just 6% of them support her deal. Meanwhile, the burning injustices that fired up many leave voters still burn, hotter than ever. This is a deal that the Government know will make us less well off, yet they have ploughed on regardless. Parliament itself has been ignored and infantilised during this process. Appearances at the Dispatch Box or in Select Committee have been used as a kind of parliamentary Calpol to keep the babies quiet. This is all on her. She promised too much, prevaricated too often and listened too little. If it was up to the Prime Minister, we would not even be here having this debate and holding the Executive to account, but that is what we are here to do.

We have a national picture of stagnating growth and tumbling investment. What this Government have done, and what this deal will carry through, is to hollow out the drivers of a strong economy. A strong economy needs to be incubated in certainty. This Government have overseen a £22 billion drop in business investment compared with pre-Brexit trends because of their chaotic negotiations, and this deal simply offers more uncertainty. A strong economy needs world-class infrastructure to rebalance growth and stop our busiest cities grinding to a halt. This Government have not tackled any of the problems of failing rail companies and suchlike, and this deal threatens future infrastructure funding and delivery. A strong economy needs people with the right skills and education. This Government have cut billions from schools and colleges, and this deal jeopardises important programmes like Horizon 2020 and Erasmus. A deal that resolved those issues is one I could happily support, but I cannot support a leap into the dark for my community and my local economy.

Our first priority must be to drive a stake through the heart of any notion of choosing a no-deal Brexit. The 15,000 businesses in Croydon are terrified of no deal, and we cannot shrug off plans to commandeer ferries, stockpile medicines and put the Army on the streets. Parliament must now step up. The Executive need our guidance, even if they will not ask for it. Our economy will be defined for decades to come by the decisions we make in the coming days. We can move towards the certainty that our economy needs to attract investment and be a global player, and towards a closer, more stable relationship that keeps standards and rights high and our sights higher. We start by voting down this deal.

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[The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (Dr Liam Fox)]

Well, that got a tumultuous welcome from the Labour Benches.

I thank right hon. and hon. Members on both sides of the House for their valuable and insightful contributions to the debate, delivered with passion but without the rancour referred to in the elegant and wise contribution of my hon. Friend the Member for Hazel Grove (Mr Wragg). I wish that more Members could have heard his wisdom on that subject.

Before I respond directly to some of the points raised in the debate, I think the House should take a moment to consider, at this pivotal moment of our nation’s history, the inherent strengths of the UK economy that we have been discussing today. As my hon. Friend the Member for Basildon and Billericay (Mr Baron) mentioned in his contribution, at the time of the referendum we were told that the simple act of voting to leave the European Union—not leaving the European Union itself, but voting to leave—would cause such an economic shock that we would lose half a million jobs, our investors would desert us and we would require an emergency Budget to deal with the ensuing fiscal imbalance. So it is worth just considering what has actually happened in our economy in that time.

We have added 700,000 to the economy, with more people finding work than at any time in the past 40 years. That is no accident. It is the result of good Conservative economic management—something that would be completely cast asunder were the Labour party, in its current hard-left form, ever to take office in this country.

[Sarah Jones]

Will the Secretary of State give way?

[Dr Fox]

If I may, I will come to the hon. Lady’s contributions a little later.

This upward trajectory in employment shows no signs of slowing. Indeed, the OBR has calculated that we can add another 800,000 jobs without creating inflationary pressure, because there is still slack in the economy to do so. Throughout this debate, Labour has talked as though, post referendum, our economy is on its knees. Well, let me tell the Opposition that 2017 saw total UK exports rise by 10.9% compared with 2016, at a time when global trade grew by about 3.4%. British companies sold almost £50 billion-worth of mechanical machinery, £41 billion-worth of motor vehicles, £16 billion- worth of aircraft and £14 billion-worth of medical equipment. Since the referendum, we have increased our share of our GDP that we export from 28.3% to 30.5%, which is a very large increase by international comparisons—so much for Britain not making anything anymore. This is all before we even consider our world-leading services sector, which accounts for around 80% of UK economic output.

--- Later in debate ---

[Dr Fox]

Talking Britain down is what people do when they cannot bear the fact that the truth tells us that our economy is doing well, that exports are at record levels, that inward investment into the United Kingdom is at record levels and that unemployment is at a record low level and employment at a record high level. Labour Members hate all those facts because they go against their basic narrative that Britain is failing and somehow needs to be rescued by an utterly inept Labour party.

[Sarah Jones]

I am slightly confused about the notion that the economy has been managed well by the Government when we have nearly the slowest growing economy in the industrialised world. We have no investment, and our debt-to-GDP ratio is pretty stagnant. We are a failing economy with low wages, and we do not have the growth of other industrialised nations that are way ahead of us. The Government are not managing the economy well.

[Dr Fox]

Once we get out of the realms of fairy tales and consider reality, we see that the unemployment rate in the United Kingdom is 4.1%—almost exactly half the level in the eurozone, which is 8.1%. Our exports are growing faster than in most other countries in Europe, with the exception of Germany, and investment in our infrastructure is at record levels.