Brexit benefits 'blown by government betrayal', South Ribble election candidate claims
The UK has failed to secure the benefits that should have come with leaving the European Union.
That was the claim by the Reform UK candidate contesting the South Ribble seat at the forthcoming general election.
Andy Hunter was speaking at a hustings event at the constituency during which his Conservative opponent defended her party’s record on Brexit, Labour pledged that it would not return to EU trading arrangements and – along with the Lib Dems – claimed the country’s departure from the union had been economically damaging.
The candidates were asked – in a question submitted by a member of the public – specifically about whether any of their parties would seek pre-Brexit levels of access to the EU’s single market.
Mr. Hunter accused both the Conservative Party and the civil service of “betraying the country” over Brexit, which took place in January 2020 after almost four years of political wrangling since the referendum on the subject. He also said that if a future Labour government sought closer ties with Europe, it would be in for “a nasty little shock” – because countries like Italy, France and Germany had “gone in exactly the opposite direction that Sir Keir Starmer was hoping for”.
Pressed by hustings host – local democracy reporter Paul Faulkner – as to how his vision of Brexit differed to the one that had been delivered, the Reform candidate pointed to the election after next: “Maybe in five years’ time, we’ll be able to [show]…the trade opportunities that have been missed, the free ports that could have been managed quite readily
“There are some projects that are beyond political timeframes and we need a method…to be able to get cross-party agreements on how things move forward in the future,” Mr. Hunter said.
Labour candidate Paul Foster told the assembled audience that he wanted to be “absolutely categorically clear” that membership of the single market and EU customs union were “not up for renegotiation with the Labour Party”. He said it was now a matter of making the best of Brexit.
“Brexit is done. It’s caused huge amounts of damage to UK trade – and what we have to do now is go and get the 2019 ‘oven ready deal’ [promised before the last election by Boris Johnson]…out of the oven and try and get it to work and work properly.
“The first thing we need to do is improve our relationships with our European partners, but there’s no renegotiation. The deal’s done – we’re out of Europe,” Mr. Foster said.
However, Conservative candidate Katherine Fletcher characterised her Labour challenger’s position as one of becoming “rule takers” from the EU “without having a seat around the table to actually influence any of those rules”.
She also claimed Brexit had brought benefits to the UK economy.
“We have grown more than all of the rest of the European economies since 2010. We are now the second in the world for greenfield foreign direct investment…just overtaking China. That means people coming from other countries to invest money, to build factories, etc..
“What we’ve chosen to do post-Brexit is we have made deals with the parts of the world that are growing like topsy.
“I was the trade envoy selling the UK out in Mozambique and Africa. They’re desperate to do business with us [and] they’re all growing,” said Ms. Fletcher, who added that she did not see Brexit as a “rejection” of her European identity.
But Paul Foster pointed to Sky News reporting about the UK’s trade in gold, which he said was “distorting our GDP [gross domestic product] figures hugely”.
Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat candidate Ange Turner told the gathering that the UK economy had “faltered and…flatlined” since Brexit.
“It’s absolutely clear to me [that], if you are part of a trading group, you’re stronger than you would be if you’re on your own – and, basically, all the trade agreements that the government has negotiated [have] not come to a great deal.
“Our economy is suffering because all business people who buy goods and services – [and] export them out of the country and import them in – are paying higher duties. It’s making businesses actually go out of business.
“I am still a passionate European – I worked in Germany on a collaborative European project to build the jet to support the NATO alliance,” Ms. Turner added.
Stephani Mok, who is standing for the Green Party in South Ribble at the general election, was unable to make the hustings, which was held at Penwortham Golf Club and staged by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Lancashire Post, Lancashire Lead and Blog Preston.