We’re all packed for Brexit… don’t list to the doom-mongers, ‘Global Britain’ is ready for take-off
YOU know when you are going on holiday with the rest of your family and some of them seem to have a different style of packing from others.
Some people frankly just don’t give a monkey’s about what they bung in their carry-ons.
They wait until the last minute; they get up at the crack of dawn, as the minicab is waiting outside to go to the airport. And they stuff a few random articles of clothing — clean and dirty — into their luggage.
You see them arriving flustered at check-in with bra straps or beach towels bulging all over the place, spilling books or playing cards on the concourse; and when they actually get to the hotel or the resort the effects of their incompetence start to dominate the holiday.
First they have to go out and buy an overpriced pair of floral swimming trunks; then they wake you up late at night and ask for toothpaste; and just as you have gone to sleep they appear and insist on the use of your mobile charger; and when you see them in the morning at breakfast you are filled with remorse because the poor things have forgotten their mosquito repellent and are covered with bites.
That is one type of packer.
And then there is another mentality. The person who plans; the person who thinks ahead; the person who is prepared for every eventuality. This packer has a clear idea of the destination and what it is likely to require inside those carry-ons.
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There will be suncream, including the high factor stuff for the kids. There will be adaptor plugs, and sweaters in case it turns cold in the evening. There will be first aid and sewing kits, and the passports and tickets will be intelligently zipped into an obvious and easily accessible pocket.
There will be just the right amount of luggage, neither too much nor too little, to ensure the whole holiday goes smoothly, because the potential for rows has been cleverly reduced before the flight even takes off.
That is a competent packer. And that is the kind of Government we have.
This country is about to embark on a long and exciting journey. After 43 years of EU membership, we are about to relaunch ourselves as a truly Global Britain, more outward-looking and ambitious than ever before.
Of course, there are people now saying that they can’t wait. They want to go now. They want to plunge off the diving board in the holiday villa, without checking whether there is any elastic in their trunks or even whether there is any water in the pool.
They want to know every detail of the destination and they complain ever more vociferously that they don’t even know where they are being taken.
In the case of Brexit, there is a clamour from those who complain that the Government has no plan, no idea of the shape of the new relationship with the EU and no idea how Britain will get there.
Well, folks, all I can say is that these people have simply failed to listen to what the Prime Minister has been saying. Theresa May could not have been clearer about the way forward.
Thanks to that epic vote on June 23, the people of this country are now free to do four crucial things.
We can TAKE BACK control of our borders. We can TAKE BACK control of very large sums of money that currently go to Brussels.
We can MAKE SURE that the laws of this country are passed in this country, and that the EU court has no jurisdiction in the UK.
And for the first time in decades, we can do FREE TRADE deals with our friends around the world.
I am now in the Gulf, and it has been amazing to talk to our long-standing allies — partners who have been with us for 200 years or more of unbroken comradeship — and who are champing at the bit to enter into free trade deals.
This is already a boom zone for UK exports: Worth £20billion last year, worth more and growing faster than anywhere outside the EU apart from the US.
They are looking forward to the day when the UK is once again engaged in the campaign that made this country great — standing up for the global free trade that has lifted billions out of poverty.
But we need to get it right: To make sure we have the right equipment for our journey to all possible destinations because, if anything, we want to increase our trade with the EU as well.
So let’s be confident. It will only take a few more months until we trigger Article 50, by the end of March, as the PM has promised.
Now we need a few more weeks to pack with care and then we’re off.
Our destination is the world — Europe included