JAMES FORSYTH It’s time the nation is brought to heal after the great Brexit blockage is removed
Comment
James Forsyth, Sun columnist
The Sun
18 Jan 2020
AT the end of this month, the great blockage that has been backing up British politics will be removed.
The 2016 referendum result
will be delivered on and we will leave the European Union.
Not only is Brexit now sailing through Parliament, the Northern Ireland Assembly is back up and running after years in abeyance Boris Johnson’s election victory has been the political equivalent of Dyno-Rod unblocking the drains of Westminster.
In 2019, our politics began to smell as if everything was stuck and nothing was moving.
But the arrival of a majority government has changed all that. Not only is Brexit now sailing through Parliament, the Northern Ireland Assembly is
back up and running after years in abeyance.
Number 10 is now keen to get on with delivery.
Ministers and advisers have been personally reminded that running their departments is far more important than appearing on television or talking to the media.
Boris wants to restore the kind of Cabinet discipline we haven’t seen since the early Blair years. But moving forward also offers a chance to BRING THE COUNTRY BACK TOGETHER.
As Boris’s great hero Winston Churchill used to say: “In *victory, magnanimity.”
At
Prime Minister’s Questions this week, he took a much less confrontational style than usual.
With everyone apart from the Labour and Scottish National Party leaders, he went out of his way to be generous and not score party-political points.
Given that Boris likes to be liked, this is a more natural approach for him than being confrontational with every opposition MP.
Boris wants to occupy the common ground. His approach to Brexit night on January 31 reflects that.
Rather than being out with Nigel Farage and Co in Parliament Square, he will address the nation on this momentous moment from Downing Street.
Boris wants to occupy the common ground and his approach to Brexit night on January 31 reflects that Credit: AFP or licensors
I am told the message will be upbeat but he will also try to reach out and reassure those who voted Remain. It would be tempting for Boris to join in some full New Year’s Eve-style celebration. And there are undoubtedly Leave voters who would love him to do just that.
The danger is that this might alienate those who voted Remain but who have now reconciled themselves to the result and want to help the country pull together.
What is key is that in the coming weeks, the Government shows it knows what it wants to do to improve voters’ lives. Boris must put meat on the bones of his plan to “level-up” infrastructure and opportunity across the country.
He must show he knows not only how to keep the economy growing but how to get it out of second gear, which it has been stuck in — along with most of the West — since the financial crisis of 2008.
The next few months present a remarkable opportunity for the PM. He has a sizeable parliamentary majority and a united government, while both Labour and the Lib Dems are absorbed by their own leadership contests.
This is his moment to really crack on.
My three keys for leaving
THIS week, the European Union Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan said it is “just not possible” to conclude everything on the UK’s future relationship with the EU by the December 2020 deadline for the end of the transition period.
But the UK and the EU both agreed to that timeframe in the political declaration.
The European Union Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan said it is 'just not possible' to conclude everything on the UK’s future relationship with the EU by the December 2020 deadline Credit: EPA
The EU shouldn’t have signed up to it if they didn’t think it was possible to agree things by that date.
Boris Johnson is determined not to extend this transition period.
He feels the whole process has gone on too long already. So there needs to be some compromise to keep things moving.
What is key is that at the end of this year the UK is no longer sending millions to the EU every day; the UK determines its own immigration policy; and the role of the European Court of Justice in the UK ends on all matters other than the rights of EU citizens.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/10765860/great-brexit-blockage-removed-nation-heal/
Crying fowl
IT would be madness to throw up barriers killing a US trade deal at birth.
So the new
Agriculture Bill rightly gives the Government wiggle room over what food we could import.
Remainers have been scaremongering over America’s 'chlorinated chicken' Credit: Alamy
Remainers’ scaremongering over America’s “chlorinated chicken” was a ruse to obstruct Brexit. The left piled in for another chance to attack Trump.
But it is simply not a “lower standard” of food, as 4.5million Brits who visit the US each year will attest. US chicken treated with an extremely dilute chlorine solution has a far lower rate of *salmonella infection than EU chicken.
Nor is it credible to complain that the practice disguises unacceptable cruelty in the mass production of poultry, given how blithely we accept our own.
Brexit Britain must be open to deals with America and everywhere else. That involves importing their produce.
Of course consumers must not be exposed to inferior or unsafe grub.
But let’s deal in facts, not politically driven hysteria.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/10757581/knife-crime-policing-justice-alone/
THE SUN SAYS Boris is walking a tightrope between jubilant Leavers & unhappy Remoaners — so a unifying speech outside No10 is a must
Comment
The Sun
17 Jan 2020,
TO our relief it looks like Boris Johnson WILL stage a fitting ceremony to mark our historic Brexit on
January 31.
He is walking a tightrope between jubilant Leavers and disconsolate Remoaners . . . with most of the population somewhere between.
Boris is walking a tightrope between jubilant Leavers and disconsolate Remoaners Credit: Getty Images - Getty
So a unifying speech outside No10 at 11pm is a must. A laser display, countdown clock and a mass of Union flags all sound good.
Big Ben’s bongs were scuppered by Commons authorities. So why not get the BBC to play them at that pivotal moment? And Leavers wanting the full party can still join Nigel Farage in *Parliament Square.
We note the EU’s
Guy Verhofstadt cheering himself up with the fantasy of us rejoining one day. Sorry, Guy.
Our economy will now have global opportunities. His is forever crippled by the euro. No government will shackle us to that.
As for millions of UK-based EU citizens whose rights he is worried about, our system is simple, free and now working well.
It’s high time Brussels strong-armed all its members into being equally generous to OUR expats.
So far, disgracefully, they have not.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/10766158/boris-unifying-speech-outside-no10/
