Kemi Badenoch (Image: Jonathan Buckmaster)
The result of the EU referendum was a huge vote of confidence by the British people in our nation.
I was proud to vote to take back control of our borders, laws and trade.
While I have acknowledged my party made mistakes along the way, we have always believed in honouring the will of the British people.
The same cannot be said for ’s Labour. They tried to block and prevent our exit, until was able to break the deadlock and get done.
Too many people who wish we’d never left the EU continue to spread misinformation and negativity.
But the reality is that, since 2016 and until Labour started wrecking our economy, Britain had grown faster than Germany, Italy, and Japan and at a similar rate to France.
Our services exports are at a record-high, and we lowered and simplified tariffs to reduce costs for business and consumers.
When I was Business and Trade Secretary, we removed billions of pounds of EU red tape for businesses and concluded free trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, placing the UK at the heart of the world’s fastest growing economies.
But let’s be under no illusions – campaigned against , he tried to block it in Parliament 48 times, and he even went to Brussels to conspire against our own negotiators when he was in Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet.
He and his ministers still believe that we would be better off in the and are intent on keeping us as close as possible to the EU’s rules and institutions.
This is why I am committed to fighting to defend our freedoms and protecting .
When Labour negotiates, Britain loses. Just look at what they’re doing with the Chagos Islands.
They will do the same with our fishing grounds and our legal sovereignty if they think it will bring us closer to EU membership.
The Chancellor talks about growth, but why then would she seek to replicate and bind our country to the EU’s out-dated, low growth model?
So, as we celebrate the fifth anniversary of our freedom, I will be fighting to ensure that Labour do not edge us back into the free movement of people, European Court jurisdiction, and an EU army, and that they put our prosperity and security ahead of their ideological attachment to the EU.