Foolish to ignore our wishes

First published in the www.dissexpress.co.uk & www.suffolkfreepress.co.uk on Thursday, January 9, 2020.


Foolish To Ignore Our Wishes

Yes we did it!

Nearly 14m people voted to honour the 2016 referendum and get Brexit done, by handing Boris Johnson an emphatic Parliamentary majority.

In Suffolk, this resulted in the six seats already held by the Conservative Party being retained with enormous majorities and the seventh, Ipswich, being gained by the Party on a swing of over 6%.

Across England Remain parties suffered badly, with Labour losing dozens of seats which had voted Leave in 2016. In short, tactical voting worked for those parties determined to uphold core democratic principles.

The message is clear: never ignore the expressed wishes of the people.

Now the democratic impasses have been removed, I’m looking forward to the Government removing other blockages to this country’s prosperity.

Last month’s Queen’s Speech was encouragingly purposeful and libertarian.
The resulting EU (Withdrawal Agreement) Act means that we will be leaving the European Union by the end of this month, with any transition period limited to the end of this year.

The Government has indicated it will be totally focussed over this time on negotiating a free trade agreement with the EU. Let’s hope they will also be emphasising the need for the new trade relationship to be as frictionless as possible. Also, we must not forget or even play down the need for other free trade opportunities around the globe.

This will be welcome news for the vast majority of UK businesses, especially those in the Small and Medium Enterprises category who can now with confidence start delivering their growth plans, which have been largely put on hold during the past two years of political game-playing.

Proposals to allow the UK to diverge away from EU standards will mean that as a country we can better prepare for the challenges of international competition and new technologies unshackled from out-moded and failing protectionist principles.

It is clear that we will be taking back control of key aspects of our economy and our society including agriculture, fisheries, immigration, financial services and private international law.

Of course, we need to ensure that the UK has the infrastructure to maximise the prosperity generated by a truly globalised economy. That means the need to upgrade road and rail networks here in Suffolk and East Anglia must be seen as being of national as well as regional importance.

So whilst Boris Johnson’s overtures to the newly Tory-voting northern constituencies is understandable, it’s vital that Suffolk is not forgotten. The speed with which our Conservative MPs, including James Cartlidge and Dan Poulter, have put the upgrade of the A14 back on the agenda is very encouraging. 

We hope for good news on that soon.

Talking about infrastructure, isn’t it time Boris Johnson scrapped that white elephant and vanity project HS2 and used the available resources more effectively to target real investment need for visible and tangible projects where they are desperately needed?

I’m encouraged that some of the emerging constitutional proposals seek to reassert some much needed balance as to the relationship between the judiciary and the executive.

The Supreme Court, a creation of Tony Blair’s administration, has clearly over-reached itself by intervening directly in political matters, including most worryingly last year over the decision to prorogue Parliament.

Senior judges have fallen into a trap of extending their spheres of influence – in direct conflict with democratically elected ministers. Judicial deference needs to be restored.

So for those of us who are focussed on enhancing both our economy and democracy, 2020 looks like being a very good year indeed. 

Ends