Prime Minister’s Statement

Justine Greening Excerpts

Saturday 19th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am afraid there is a complete conceptual confusion here. Scotland, Northern Ireland—the whole of the UK is coming out of the customs union. Particular arrangements are being put in place to avoid a hard border in Northern Ireland, which I think is an objective that the whole House supports. As for the people of Scotland, they had a referendum, as the hon. and learned Lady knows full well, in 2014, and they voted very substantially to remain in the United Kingdom. That was the correct decision. They were told it was a once-in-a-generation decision, and I see no reason whatever to betray that promise that was made to them then.

[Justine Greening (Putney) (Ind)]

The Prime Minister, I think, has said that he now wants to speak for the 52% and the 48%, but does he recognise that the rhetoric, the actions and the way that this Government have approached Brexit achieve the exact opposite of that, actually? Does he also recognise that dismissing the concerns of communities such as my own is no way to bring even England back together, and dismissing the concerns of other nations within the United Kingdom is also no way to bring the UK and Britain back together either?

[The Prime Minister]

I certainly did not mean to dismiss anybody’s concerns, let alone her own. I recognise, as I think I said in my opening statement, that this is an issue that has aroused deep feeling across the country on both sides, but it is my strong belief that the way forward for this country now is to deliver Brexit, get it done and move our country forward. That is the way, I believe, that people can honestly and passionately express their pro-European views in a new deep and special partnership of the kind that my right hon. Friend—both of us—campaigned for.