As the parliamentary party gathered yesterday in Windsor, it felt like a real moment of unity after a tumultuous year. My colleagues and I are only too aware that the people across the country are fatigued by what feels like ‘the forever crisis’.
From the days of Brexit indicative votes, to Covid, to the war in Ukraine, it has been difficult to find real hope or real certainty. This week has felt for me, a passionate Brexiteer, as though a cloud has lifted for our United Kingdom.
The Windsor agreement is a triumph for Britain, for British soft power, for the Prime Minister, and, most importantly, for the people of Northern Ireland. The concessions that have been granted by the EU this week would have been impossible just a few short years ago.
We at last have got a deal here that works, restores the Belfast/Good Friday agreement, and will ensure smooth-flowing trade within the whole United Kingdom.
We can say goodbye to the sausage wars with the new Green Lane, where customs bureaucracy will be scrapped. Food retailers like supermarkets, restaurants, and wholesalers will no longer need hundreds of certificates for every lorry and we will end the situation where food made to UK rules could not be sent to and sold in Northern Ireland.
So, if food is available on supermarket shelves in Great Britain, then it will be available on supermarket shelves in Northern Ireland. And unlike under the NI Protocol, the Windsor Framework means people sending parcels to friends and family or doing their shopping online, will not have to complete customs paperwork.
This means we have removed any sense of a border in the Irish Sea, as well as ensuring no hard border on the island of Ireland.
Contrast this with Keir Starmer who tried to block Brexit 48 times, campaigned for a second referendum where he would have voted Remain, and consistently fought to keep the UK inside the Single Market and the Customs Union. Restoring our sovereignty and taking back control was an important step in Britain’s future, and a step that the opposition still can’t get to grips with.
Fundamentally, the Windsor agreement secures the place of Northern Ireland in the Union. The Government has amended the legal text of the Protocol to ensure we can make critical VAT and excise changes for the whole of the UK. Onerous requirements on pet travel have been removed.
The agreement also delivers a landmark settlement on medicines. From now on, drugs approved for use by the UK’s medicines regulator will be automatically available in every pharmacy and hospital in Northern Ireland.
Most importantly, the agreement allows us to take back control – putting power back in the hands of Stormont and Westminster, not Brussels.
The new Stormont Brake not only gives Northern Ireland a say over new EU laws but also the ability to block them, giving sovereignty back to people in Northern Ireland over their future.
These are the practical measures the Prime Minister has fought for so that we can once again move forward together as one United Kingdom. No more internal Westminster squabbles, but now we can direct our passion toward delivering for everyone across the country.
Contrast this with Keir Starmer who says whatever suits him on the day when Brexit is concerned. He campaigned in 2019 for a second referendum and then two years later said he ‘couldn’t disagree more’ on the need for a second Brexit referendum.
He said he would defend free movement in November 2021 and then a year later said bringing back free movement would be a ‘red line’ for him. These are just a few examples of what we can expect from a Keir Starmer style of government.
As the Prime Minister said in the House of Commons on Monday, we now want everyone involved to reflect carefully on the agreement that has been reached, which took hundreds of hours of painstaking negotiations.
I am so proud of the developments we have seen in the last week. It is proof that the Prime Minister is a man who will deliver for the nation. We know that there is a lot more work to do but we can be reassured that the PM is focused on the people’s priorities – halving inflation, reducing debt, growing the economy, cutting NHS waiting lists, and stopping small boats.
With so many colleagues, like me, relieved and proud that we now have a clear way forward that keeps our precious United Kingdom together, I feel that we can now go into May’s elections with a clear, credible, and compelling offer for voters.
I hope this marks a moment where we in our great party come together, resolved to take the fight to the opposition for the benefit of people throughout the United Kingdom.
As the parliamentary party gathered yesterday in Windsor, it felt like a real moment of unity after a tumultuous year. My colleagues and I are only too aware that the people across the country are fatigued by what feels like ‘the forever crisis’.
From the days of Brexit indicative votes, to Covid, to the war in Ukraine, it has been difficult to find real hope or real certainty. This week has felt for me, a passionate Brexiteer, as though a cloud has lifted for our United Kingdom.
The Windsor agreement is a triumph for Britain, for British soft power, for the Prime Minister, and, most importantly, for the people of Northern Ireland. The concessions that have been granted by the EU this week would have been impossible just a few short years ago.
We at last have got a deal here that works, restores the Belfast/Good Friday agreement, and will ensure smooth-flowing trade within the whole United Kingdom.
We can say goodbye to the sausage wars with the new Green Lane, where customs bureaucracy will be scrapped. Food retailers like supermarkets, restaurants, and wholesalers will no longer need hundreds of certificates for every lorry and we will end the situation where food made to UK rules could not be sent to and sold in Northern Ireland.
So, if food is available on supermarket shelves in Great Britain, then it will be available on supermarket shelves in Northern Ireland. And unlike under the NI Protocol, the Windsor Framework means people sending parcels to friends and family or doing their shopping online, will not have to complete customs paperwork.
This means we have removed any sense of a border in the Irish Sea, as well as ensuring no hard border on the island of Ireland.
Contrast this with Keir Starmer who tried to block Brexit 48 times, campaigned for a second referendum where he would have voted Remain, and consistently fought to keep the UK inside the Single Market and the Customs Union. Restoring our sovereignty and taking back control was an important step in Britain’s future, and a step that the opposition still can’t get to grips with.
Fundamentally, the Windsor agreement secures the place of Northern Ireland in the Union. The Government has amended the legal text of the Protocol to ensure we can make critical VAT and excise changes for the whole of the UK. Onerous requirements on pet travel have been removed.
The agreement also delivers a landmark settlement on medicines. From now on, drugs approved for use by the UK’s medicines regulator will be automatically available in every pharmacy and hospital in Northern Ireland.
Most importantly, the agreement allows us to take back control – putting power back in the hands of Stormont and Westminster, not Brussels.
The new Stormont Brake not only gives Northern Ireland a say over new EU laws but also the ability to block them, giving sovereignty back to people in Northern Ireland over their future.
These are the practical measures the Prime Minister has fought for so that we can once again move forward together as one United Kingdom. No more internal Westminster squabbles, but now we can direct our passion toward delivering for everyone across the country.
Contrast this with Keir Starmer who says whatever suits him on the day when Brexit is concerned. He campaigned in 2019 for a second referendum and then two years later said he ‘couldn’t disagree more’ on the need for a second Brexit referendum.
He said he would defend free movement in November 2021 and then a year later said bringing back free movement would be a ‘red line’ for him. These are just a few examples of what we can expect from a Keir Starmer style of government.
As the Prime Minister said in the House of Commons on Monday, we now want everyone involved to reflect carefully on the agreement that has been reached, which took hundreds of hours of painstaking negotiations.
I am so proud of the developments we have seen in the last week. It is proof that the Prime Minister is a man who will deliver for the nation. We know that there is a lot more work to do but we can be reassured that the PM is focused on the people’s priorities – halving inflation, reducing debt, growing the economy, cutting NHS waiting lists, and stopping small boats.
With so many colleagues, like me, relieved and proud that we now have a clear way forward that keeps our precious United Kingdom together, I feel that we can now go into May’s elections with a clear, credible, and compelling offer for voters.
I hope this marks a moment where we in our great party come together, resolved to take the fight to the opposition for the benefit of people throughout the United Kingdom.