24 June 2022

UKandEU: David Lamy MP - Labour's vision for Britain in the world after Brexit

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It’s great to be with you at what is a vital moment for Britain’s relationship with the EU and a critical time for European security.

We are now six years on from the referendum.

The world has changed considerably since the day of that vote.

There has been some progress…

…let’s not forget that was the week in June 2016 when England lost to Iceland in the Euros.

But to say the years since have been very challenging globally is an understatement.

Back in the summer of 2016, the Trump presidency was a danger on the horizon…

…Not a surreal nightmare we lived through, and which continues to put American democracy under threat.

The Taliban were on the fringes of Afghanistan, not in power in Kabul.

Very few of us had heard of coronaviruses…

…until a novel variant took millions of lives…

…froze economies across the world…

…and forced so many of us to miss out on the close relationships we depend on.

And now Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine has marked the return of large-scale land war to our continent.

The last six years have upended many assumptions, exposing us to new threats and shaking the foundations of the international order.

We face this from a new settled position outside of the EU, but without a clear direction set for our foreign policy.

The series of crises we have lived through has made the world less stable…

…but the Conservatives cannot hide from the fact that their choices have left us more damaged than almost any other comparable economy.

There is consensus among economists that the government’s poorly negotiated deal with the EU has contributed to the UK lagging behind the rest of the G7 in trade recovery.

Except for Putin’s Russia which is facing unprecedented sanctions…

…the OECD predicts that next year the UK will have the lowest growth in the G20.

The Office for Budget Responsibility still predicts the government’s badly negotiated deal will reduce the UK’s gross domestic product by 4 per cent.

That’s £100bn a year in lost output.

The Conservatives have turned us into a country of high tax and low growth.

The Integrated Review of foreign and defence policy was trumpeted by Boris Johnson as a British ‘tilt to the Indo-Pacific’ and scarcely mentions Europe beyond NATO.

Just months after Boris Johnson claimed ‘the old concepts of fighting big tank battles on European land mass are over’…

…he was proven tragically wrong.

And the government’s mistakes in foreign policy go beyond Europe.

It made short-sighted cuts to aid when global humanitarian need has never been greater…

…abandoning a cross party consensus and a manifesto commitment…

…undermining our ability to tackle climate change, conflict and future pandemics..

Billions of pounds of the defence budget have been lost in mismanagement and waste…

…while the British army faces further cuts.

Instead of investing sufficient resources in renewable energy at home to reach Net Zero…

…Boris Johnson has moved from dictator to dictator, with his cap in hand, to beg for fossil fuels.

Too often the Conservatives have turned a blind eye to security concerns and human rights in our relationship with China.

And Boris Johnson’s government has done everything in their powers to damage the UK’s historic reputation for upholding international law.

From its reckless plans on the Northern Ireland Protocol to its unethical, unlawful and unworkable plan to send refugees to Rwanda…

…the Conservatives have made the UK less trusted and more isolated on the world stage.

Ukraine turning point

The war in Ukraine is a turning point for European security.

We have stood united in Parliament in our support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and defence, and our opposition to Russia’s bloody war…

But Putin’s imperialism has exposed just how dangerous it was for the Conservatives to spend decades cosying up to Russian oligarchs…

…allowing their dirty money to pollute the UK economy, our politics and institutions.

It also should remind the government what was always obvious…

…even though we are outside the EU, our geography matters.

What happens on the European continent is fundamental to our security and our prosperity.

We share mutual interests and democratic values with our European partners.

Building and sustaining relations of influence and trust with them is in Britain’s national interest.

Even though we are outside the EU, the British public recognises we need to be working closely with our closest partners.

But instead of recognising this reality, Boris Johnson’s Conservatives are stuck in a fever dream of 2016.

Picking petty fights with our closest neighbours…

…instead of moving on and negotiating solutions.

The government’s position is that the situation in Ukraine is so serious that their lawbreaking Prime Minister must remain in office…

…but apparently not serious enough to stop us starting a diplomatic fight with some of our closest allies.

With inflation soaring, with the country facing a cost of living crisis, with war on the European continent, this is the worst possible time for this Bill to arrive....

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