“No self-respecting country would agree with this deal”
In his speech to the House of Commons, Boris Johnson promises to make the UK “the greatest country on Earth”. He calls the Brexit deal unacceptable.
Boris Johnson, newly appointed British Prime Minister, gave his first speech as head of government in the House of Commons following the first session of the new Cabinet. He introduced his plans to MEPs in the British Parliament: he wanted to make the UK “the greatest country in the world” and, by 2050, “the most prosperous economy in Europe”. This development should be possible through new trade agreements.
His mission was to complete the Brexit, Johnson continued. As on the previous day, he spoke about the importance of restoring public confidence in politics and democracy. He would want to leave the EU with an agreement rather than without, Johnson made it clear. He promised to work for a renegotiated contract.
But the agreement in its current form is unsustainable: “Its conditions are unacceptable for this Parliament and this country, and no country that values its independence and has self-respect would approve of this agreement.”
The so-called backstop, which is to regulate the proceedings at the Irish-Northern Irish border, rejects Johnson. In the negotiations with the EU he would go in a “spirit of friendship”, he said. Britain needs to get away from the idea that a hard Brexit without agreements would only have negative effects – the UK is also ready to leave the EU and could, once “free of EU regulations”, adopt a new economic strategy develop.
The new PM also announced that the tax system would be revised to give companies more incentive to invest in the UK. Johnson concluded his first statement by saying, “Today is the first day of a new start, we will not start on October 31, we’ll start right now.”