Theresa May’s Brexit speech was historic and a game-changer for Britain and Brussels
Mrs May established herself as the right leader to steer us through these momentous times
THE Brexit vision Theresa May unveiled is so close to ours we couldn’t have written it any better. It was a magnificent, historic speech — a game-changer for Britain and for Brussels.
It has been fashionable to sneer that the Government is in chaos with no exit plan. That the EU would dictate terms to us anyway.
Some EU chiefs had convinced themselves that if they played hardball Britain would lose its bottle and decide to stay in.
In 45 minutes Mrs May buried all three delusions and put us at the wheel of our own destiny.
We are leaving. That’s that. No half-measures. If we cannot strike a decent deal we will walk away. Better no deal than a bad one, as the PM said.
Brexit has several possible variations. The Prime Minister took the only logical course to satisfy the Leave majority, to take back control of our borders and laws and to set up a more prosperous future.
Her speech was hugely ambitious, optimistic and crafted to appeal to every level-headed person in Britain. Indeed it won praise both from Remainers and Ukip. Come what may, Britain WILL leave the single market.
We will also leave the customs union almost entirely, to free us to strike trade deals all over the world. As The Sun has often said, during and since the referendum campaign, a global outlook beyond the confines of the EU is the key to our future.
The PM offered the hand of friendship to the EU partners with whom she will shortly try to negotiate a free trade agreement.
She stressed that we were not leaving Europe, only the EU, and hoped that our neighbours would thrive just as we intend to.
But she was commendably steely in urging them to focus on the potential gains for both sides, not on “punishing” Britain to deter others from leaving.
Anything else, she warned icily, would be “an act of calamitous self-harm . . . and not the act of a friend.”
The PM was right to put on the table the continued security our peerless intelligence services give the EU — as well as the prospect of us aggressively cutting taxes to lure top firms to Britain. Both are strong cards.
The Sun has two reservations: the transitional periods Mrs May wants, between the day we leave and the new deals taking effect, must not drift.
We cannot be half-way into a new decade before we take back control.
And while we see the need for a Parliamentary vote on the final deal, it troubles us.
It’s true that MPs, especially Labour ones in Brexit-voting seats, would be insane to oppose it. So too the Lords if they value their continued existence as an unelected chamber.
Our concern is that it provides a focal point for two more grim years of divisive campaigning by diehard Remainers still hoping to turn back the clock. The Lib-Dems have already begun. Labour, in its confusion, was still gibbering incoherently about the rich yesterday but may yet join in.
Brussels will find this PM a much tougher negotiator than the last. David Cameron was fatally compromised — they knew his heart wasn’t in it.
Whatever difficulties do await Mrs May, she established herself as the right leader to steer us through these momentous times.