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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/07/cabinet-has-chosen-to-listen-to-business-future-prosperity
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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| With this soft Brexit, the cabinet has chosen to listen to business | With this soft Brexit, the cabinet has chosen to listen to business |
| (about 1 month later) | |
| At 10pm on Friday night (I was in Tesco), I was stopped by a constituent who rather anxiously asked if agreement by the cabinet on Britain’s negotiating position on Brexit had been reached. I was able to reassure her that a statement had indeed been issued and she looked relieved. | At 10pm on Friday night (I was in Tesco), I was stopped by a constituent who rather anxiously asked if agreement by the cabinet on Britain’s negotiating position on Brexit had been reached. I was able to reassure her that a statement had indeed been issued and she looked relieved. |
| The collective position agreed by the cabinet mattered not just to Westminster and Brussels but more broadly across the country. And it matters because jobs and people’s financial security are on the line. | The collective position agreed by the cabinet mattered not just to Westminster and Brussels but more broadly across the country. And it matters because jobs and people’s financial security are on the line. |
| Inevitably we will all be asked who the winners and losers from the agreement are and which type of Brexit is now on the table. To ask this question is to misunderstand that this is a real, live negotiation in which Britain’s position has just taken another evolutionary turn and in which no one will get exactly what they want. There will inevitably be more twists and turns and all sides need to show continued flexibility. | Inevitably we will all be asked who the winners and losers from the agreement are and which type of Brexit is now on the table. To ask this question is to misunderstand that this is a real, live negotiation in which Britain’s position has just taken another evolutionary turn and in which no one will get exactly what they want. There will inevitably be more twists and turns and all sides need to show continued flexibility. |
| Theresa May’s EU deal under fire from hardline Brexiters | Theresa May’s EU deal under fire from hardline Brexiters |
| What is now on the table is an association agreement. This is an existing relationship framework which the EU has encountered many times before and should be able to do business with. For that reason, I hope that the EU will take time to fully explore, with Britain’s negotiating team, what is in the cabinet statement. And that all MPs will take the time to do so too. | What is now on the table is an association agreement. This is an existing relationship framework which the EU has encountered many times before and should be able to do business with. For that reason, I hope that the EU will take time to fully explore, with Britain’s negotiating team, what is in the cabinet statement. And that all MPs will take the time to do so too. |
| If the EU rejects this cabinet position without further consideration then that only helps those who want a no-deal, hard Brexit, which I believe would be a disaster for Britain and the EU. | If the EU rejects this cabinet position without further consideration then that only helps those who want a no-deal, hard Brexit, which I believe would be a disaster for Britain and the EU. |
| Further details from the white paper are needed but it seems the main elements Britain is now proposing are a free trade area for goods, a facilitated customs agreement, reciprocal commitments on free trade – including issues such as close co-operation by relevant regulators and a role for the European court of justice (but it won’t be making decisions for Britain on legal interpretation of rules that we have signed up to). | Further details from the white paper are needed but it seems the main elements Britain is now proposing are a free trade area for goods, a facilitated customs agreement, reciprocal commitments on free trade – including issues such as close co-operation by relevant regulators and a role for the European court of justice (but it won’t be making decisions for Britain on legal interpretation of rules that we have signed up to). |
| The proposed free trade area sounds remarkably like the common market, which many older voters will remember and many, according to my conversations locally, supported. Overall, this reflects the fact that Britain will be reverting to a trading and economic relationship with the EU and leaving the political relationship which so many voters objected to and which led to the 2016 referendum result. | The proposed free trade area sounds remarkably like the common market, which many older voters will remember and many, according to my conversations locally, supported. Overall, this reflects the fact that Britain will be reverting to a trading and economic relationship with the EU and leaving the political relationship which so many voters objected to and which led to the 2016 referendum result. |
| Britain is also calling for a close security relationship with the EU after March 2019. It seems obvious that this will be of mutual benefit to all citizens in Europe and many people will hope this is another strand to the ongoing British/EU partnership which can be negotiated. | Britain is also calling for a close security relationship with the EU after March 2019. It seems obvious that this will be of mutual benefit to all citizens in Europe and many people will hope this is another strand to the ongoing British/EU partnership which can be negotiated. |
| It has taken longer than expected for a common cabinet position to be reached and for collective ministerial responsibility on Brexit to be fully reasserted. However, both have now happened and this is welcome. | It has taken longer than expected for a common cabinet position to be reached and for collective ministerial responsibility on Brexit to be fully reasserted. However, both have now happened and this is welcome. |
| Leaving the EU was always going to be about compromises and trade-offs – as in any negotiation. This cabinet statement is an evolution of its position. Much detail remains to be seen and worked out – for example, I wait to hear what services firms think about the proposals, and many, many businesses in Britain benefit from EU agency membership or supervision, which needs to be nailed down. | Leaving the EU was always going to be about compromises and trade-offs – as in any negotiation. This cabinet statement is an evolution of its position. Much detail remains to be seen and worked out – for example, I wait to hear what services firms think about the proposals, and many, many businesses in Britain benefit from EU agency membership or supervision, which needs to be nailed down. |
| But recognition in the cabinet statement of the need to protect “the uniquely integrated supply chains and just-in-time processes that have developed across Britain and the EU over 40 years, and the jobs and livelihoods dependent on them”, means that the cabinet has very deliberately chosen to listen to business and not to swear at it or ask it to keep quiet. That is good news for our future prosperity. | But recognition in the cabinet statement of the need to protect “the uniquely integrated supply chains and just-in-time processes that have developed across Britain and the EU over 40 years, and the jobs and livelihoods dependent on them”, means that the cabinet has very deliberately chosen to listen to business and not to swear at it or ask it to keep quiet. That is good news for our future prosperity. |
| Nicky Morgan is Tory MP for Loughborough and a former minister | Nicky Morgan is Tory MP for Loughborough and a former minister |
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