Outcome of the EU Referendum

Simon Hoare Excerpts

Monday 27th June 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

First, I congratulate the right hon. Lady on the role she played in the campaign as a very key spokesman for that side of the argument. I pay tribute to Lord Hill, who worked incredibly hard in the European Commission; I am very sad to see him go. We should try to seek a replacement, because the fact is that we are a full, contributing and paying member of this organisation until we leave, and we should therefore have a commissioner, although I am sure that will be a challenge. UKRep in Brussels is ably led by Sir Ivan Rogers, who I hope will remain in place and continue to give the excellent advice that he has given to Ministers to date.

[Simon Hoare (North Dorset) (Con)]

Although the hon. Member for Vauxhall (Kate Hoey) is right, I make no apology for bringing my right hon. Friend back to the topic of the racism we have seen since Thursday. A tweet has been sent to a young black woman in London that says:

“Go home! #wevotedleave. Time to make Britain great again by getting rid of u blacks, Asians and immigrants”.

When such a tweet can be sent, it would appear that a genie has been let out of the bottle—unintended, I am certain, by both sides of the referendum campaign. May I ask my right hon. Friend first that the police and prosecuting authorities have the resources to bring cases against perpetrators of this vile racism and secondly that he use his good offices with the leaderships of both of the referendum campaigns to call out this abuse for what it is and bring a stop to it now?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. This is hideous language that we thought we had banished from our country and it is very important that everyone comes out and condemns it as strongly as possible. On his specific questions, the police have resources because we protected their budgets, and there are the necessary laws to prosecute hate crimes. As for the two campaigns, as far as I am concerned, they no longer exist; there is now one Government with one view, which is that we have to find the right path for the future. The sooner we can do that, the better.