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Brexiteers have hailed benefits reaped from the UK’s departure from the EU but highlighted work still to do as Britain marks the third anniversary of leaving the bloc. On January 31 three years ago, then-PM Boris Johnson led the country out of Brussels after decades of membership and years of campaigning by the Express.<\/p>\n
The UK entered an 11-month transition period until the end of 2020, during which time it remained bound to the EU’s rules.<\/p>\n
Now three years on from the official exit, Brexiteers have listed major wins made possible by quitting, including the hugely successful Covid vaccine rollout, Britain’s key support for war-torn Ukraine in the face of Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion, and trade deals struck with countries around the world.<\/p>\n
But Leave-backers have also pointed out there is still much to be done, including sorting out the Northern Ireland Protocol which has been an ongoing source of tension and slashing EU red tape.<\/p>\n
Mark Francois, chairman of the powerful European Research Group (ERG) of pro-Brexit Tory backbenchers, told the Express: \u201cThere have been many advantages to our leaving the EU including one of the fastest vaccine rollouts in the world, being able to pursue our own foreign policy over Ukraine and our own trade policy, including over 70 new trade deals, including with Commonwealth allies, like Australia and New Zealand.<\/p>\n
“In addition, over 7,000 new laws, directives and regulations have been passed by the EU since we left, which Britain is no longer subject to.<\/p>\n
“However, the biggest advantage is that we now control our own destiny. Throughout this whole debate I have never really understood why some people want us not to run our own country – but to be run by somebody else instead.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Tory David Jones, deputy chair of the ERG, added: “Obviously the main benefit of Brexit so far is that we are an independent country.<\/p>\n
“We are a sovereign country, we make our own laws in the interests of our own people and are not subject to a system whereby laws are agreed behind closed doors. In other words, we have restored our democracy and that is the most important trait.<\/p>\n
“I think what we need to do is to get rid of the Northern Ireland Protocol, which is the last step of Brexit. We’ve got to make sure that Northern Ireland returns to its full status.”<\/p>\n
Mr Jones highlighted the prospect of the UK joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade agreement.<\/p>\n
He said: “I think that we must also press on to secure the CPTPP membership. We want to press on with that and make sure we do get it.<\/p>\n
“These are the world’s fastest-growing economies and we also want to see India and the US joining that – it would be a massive free trade area.<\/p>\n
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“There is a lot to look forward to, we’ve only just started. We are living through a period of revolution, three years in a revolution is not a very long time. We’ve already secured a great deal, but there’s a great deal more to secure as well.<\/p>\n
“And I think when we looked at the 10th anniversary we will see that the UK is a very dynamic economy. It’s free from the EU. It’s got free trade deals with countries right across the world.<\/p>\n
“We’ll be subject to less bureaucratic regulation from the EU and I think that generally there will be a huge feeling of relief that we haven’t gone down the road that the EU has gone.”<\/p>\n
Conservative MP Michael Fabricant highlighted how the pandemic has had an impact on seizing benefits, but urged the Government to make up for lost time by ditching red tape to gain a competitive edge over Brussels.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cCovid understandably distracted the Government from taking full advantage of Brexit.<\/p>\n
“We need to catch up by making the UK the most competitive nation in Europe and discard unnecessary regulations.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Former Tory minister and ex-Brexit Party MEP Ann Widdecombe said: “First of all we’ve got to sort out Northern Ireland, which we haven’t done.<\/p>\n
“Secondly, we’ve got to get rid of the EU laws which are still on our statute book, which we haven’t done.<\/p>\n
“Thirdly we’ve got to get rid of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in our affairs, which we haven’t done.”<\/p>\n
Turning to benefits, she continued: “We’ve negotiated some pretty good trade deals. And if you look at the figures, our exports in food have risen very sharply, so that’s been a plus.<\/p>\n
“Certainly control of legal immigration has been a great plus, because we can now say who comes here, on what terms, whether they can get benefits, all that sort of stuff. We weren’t able to do that before.<\/p>\n
“So there have been benefits but the real big benefit that we all wanted from Brexit was that we would become competitive. We would, to use that awful expression, become Singapore-on-Thames and that we would become a hive of enterprise, and our tax regime has made that impossible.<\/p>\n
“The biggest benefit was our own sovereignty back. But we’ve thrown away the single biggest economic benefit by going for a high-tax economy. Nobody’s going to want to come here and invest in a high-tax economy.”<\/p>\n
On legislation for a bonfire of EU laws which cleared its final Commons hurdle earlier this month and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s speech last week setting out plans to axe the so-called Solvency II EU directive to unlock up to \u00a3100 billion of private investment, Ms Widdecombe added: “I’m sick of hearing speeches, I want to see action.<\/p>\n
“I’m no longer interested in talking about what we’re going to do, I want to actually see us doing it.”<\/p>\n