Theresa May Has Proved She Is Serious About Brexit. Here Is What She Must Do to Deliver
Comment of the Day

July 14 2016

Commentary by David Fuller

Theresa May Has Proved She Is Serious About Brexit. Here Is What She Must Do to Deliver

Brexit is an idea, an intellectual vision for Britain, a 10- or 20-year journey to reshape our economy and society, reinvigorate our democracy and reinvent ourselves as truly global, high-wage, high value-added trading superhub.

It matters little who begins to deliver this, as long as our withdrawal from the EU is executed in the best possible way: the referendum was about changing our destiny, not about making any specific pro‑Brexit individual our next prime minister.

We were voting for an idea, not a gang; this was a referendum, not an election. Ideas both predate and outlive individuals, and Euroscepticism is no different: the mark of true ideological victory is when erstwhile opponents implement a policy that they used to oppose and hire their former enemies to assist them in the task.

Capitalism triumphs when ex-socialists privatise industries, deregulate and cut taxes; Euroscepticism truly wins when an ex‑Remainer takes us out of the EU.

This is why all Brexiteers should welcome Theresa May as our new Prime Minister. She has pledged that Brexit means Brexit, as has Philip Hammond, our new Chancellor, and said that there will be no going back. She should be taken at her word.

The fact that she has appointed Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary, in an inspired move, confirms that this is now a certainty. The same is true for the vital jobs given to David Davis and Liam Fox, two veteran Outers.

Appointing Boris was an excellent idea: he believes in Brexit but is pro-European; he wants additional controls on migration but is pro-immigrant. His appointment will help cement Brexit as a liberal, pro-globalisation project. 

David Fuller's view

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His biggest failure, shared by Chancellor George Osborne, was theattempt to muscle the Brexit referendum result.  Many of us thought that after calling the referendum, they should have said that while they personally favoured Remain, it was for the electorate to decide, adding that they would work with either result.  This would have led to a much less divisive and contentious campaign.  Having campaigned so vigorously, Cameron understandably felt that he had to resign.

Boris Johnson and Michael Gove’s mistake in leading the Leave campaign was to appear clueless as to what should happen once they had won.  This undermined confidence and temporarily damaged the economy.

Fortunately, that is behind us now and a strong, new government is in place, led by Theresa May.  Stock markets have steadied all over the world and the FTSE 250 is among them.  A push above 17,500 would break the progression of lower rally highs, providing some evidence that we were no longer in a supply dominated environment.  The growth outlook remains uncertain but a flood of money from the BoE, ECB and BoJ is pushing asset prices higher once again.

   

 

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