Michael Gove pledges to get better deal for British farmers and fishermen after Brexit

And leaving the European Union gives us the chance to secure a special prize - a Green Brexit.

Now, of course, there have been environmental rules which we helped develop while in the EU which are important and which we must keep – indeed – where possible – strengthen.

And we will want to secure an ambitious free trade deal with the EU – alongside other new trade deals – so our great farmers can sell more of their wonderful produce.

But now we are leaving – and taking back control – there are so many ways in which we can enhance our environment.

Take the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy – it has been economically and environmentally disastrous.

Lack of control over our own waters has gone hand in hand with drastic overfishing and the depletion of a wonderful, renewable, natural resource.

Outside the EU we can do so much better.

And the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy has been a failure – environmentally damaging and socially unjust.

It’s damaged natural habitats, hit biodiversity and harmed wildlife.

The number of farmland birds has reduced by more than half, pollinators such as wild and honey bees have suffered a drastic decline in numbers, and our rivers and chalk streams have seen fish stocks decline and small mammals disappear.

On top of that, the CAP has channeled hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money to the already wealthy, simply because of the amount of land they have.

That is plain wrong.

And what makes it worse is that the CAP hasn’t provided the right support to our farmers in their drive to improve animal welfare standards and enhance the environment.

We have the best farmers in the world, producing the best food in the world, but inside the EU they are held back by bureaucracy, hampered in their efforts to get into new markets, and hindered in their ambitions to further improve our environment.

Our rural communities need a new deal.

Outside the EU we can do so much better.

For a start, outside the Common Fisheries Policy there is a sea of opportunity for British fishermen.

We can take back control of our territorial waters.

We’ll let in others only on our terms.

We can then develop a world-leading policy on marine conservation.

And give British fishermen first call on this resource.

Isn’t that a great prize to aim for?

And, outside the Common Agricultural Policy, we can stop subsidising the rich on the basis of how much land they own and instead spend money on enhancing the environment, supporting innovation, improving productivity, training a new generation of entrepreneurial young farmers and reviving rural communities.

Isn’t that a great Conservative mission?

And outside the European Union’s single market, we can improve animal welfare, supporting more humane methods of farming and restricting the live export of animals.

Isn’t that a cause in which we can all believe?

The opportunities to show leadership in respect for animal life, in restoring health to our oceans and in farming sustainably, are now all the greater because we’ve decided to be outside the European Union.

Which is another reason why that vote to take back control was a liberating, progressive and democratic act.

One of the reasons I campaigned for us to leave the EU is because I believe so deeply in democracy.

Politicians should be held accountable for the promises they make and citizens should be able to decide their nation’s destiny.

That is the prize we chose to seize last year with the referendum vote.

But like all prizes worth winning, there will be challenges on the road to securing that freedom.

In my own department we need to get the systems in place to allow exports and imports to flow as they should.

But while we should never underestimate the work that needs to be done, neither should we understate the re-invigorating power of restoring democratic control to politics.

Inside the EU ministers have been, and still are, prevented from acting as they think right and as the people want.

Whether its fisheries or farming, bin collections or VAT rates, controlling our borders or improving animal welfare, EU law currently binds our hands.

But we will be free of those handcuffs by the time of the next election, outside the EU, and able to put in our manifesto the policies the country needs, which the European Court can no longer strike down.

Let us pledge to use that freedom wisely, to better support the vulnerable and the voiceless, to fight injustice and to build a country which everyone is proud to call home.

But let us also be determined never again to give that freedom away.