Over the summer we have seen the new Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and his new approach to Brexit. It is clear that the current Withdrawal Agreement will not pass through the House of Commons despite the fact that 90% of Conservative MPs voted for the deal including Boris Johnson. Unfortunately in a hung Parliament this is not enough to proceed. This leaves two options available assuming you wish to respect the result of the referendum; first to try to renegotiate a deal that can gain wider support in parliament or if this is not possible leave on World Trade Organisation (WTO) terms. I have said many times that I believe leaving the EU without any deal would create unnecessary risk for thousands of businesses and millions of people across our country.
The Prime Minister has stated that it is his preferred position to leave the EU in an orderly manner with a deal. I support this position as it is by far the best approach for both the UK and the EU27. There are of course some parties who wish to ignore the result of the referendum and remain in the EU, this is not a position I support. I believe we must respect the result of the vote; however, this does not mean we should leave at any cost or inflict considerable economic damage to our country. Reaching an agreement will require compromise from the EU, the Government and MPs so I hope as we near the deadline of 31st October 2019, positions will shift and an agreement can be reached.
Brexit, although of great importance, has been taking over the political agenda and this is worrying. We have pressing issues to deal with like ensuring we make our net-zero carbon target by 2050 or sooner. To do this we will need to make further significant investment and keep the issue at the top of the agenda.
The new PM has made some very welcome spending commitments, but one thing he recognised during the leadership race was the need for fairer funding in schools, particularly small, rural ones. This is an issue I have been working on ever since I entered Parliament, and when the House returns it will be at the top of my list to remind the Prime Minister of his accurate observation and ask how he intends to rebalance the system.
Next week the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Social Care, that I Co-Chair with a Labour MP, will launch its report on professionalisation in the industry, another area that needs urgent reform and investment. So we have lots of work to do and hope to be hitting the ground running as we return to Parliament next week.
