Brexit has hamstrung this country – now it’s time to really ‘take back control’

Enough agonising over a vote that happened in 2016 – we need to fix this, writes Stella Creasy

Walking away from formal cooperation with our neighbours is a needless act of self-sabotage (PA)

Seven years ago “TikTok” was a noise clocks make, pandemics were historical events, and banning former prime ministers from the parliamentary estate was unthinkable. Many proclaim Brexit to be as inevitable as technological progress, healthcare crises and Boris Johnson lying. As we reflect on how it has since shredded our economic and social fabric, the question is not whether we can repair it – for it is too broken – but what we can build anew.

Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, poor productivity and the pandemic are distinct problems feeding our economic woes. Yet Conservatives persistently muddy the waters to avoid responsibility for the consequences of their Brexit choices.

Imposing barriers to trade with our neighbours has in itself slashed our GDP, strangled our world-leading research capacity and fed inflation. It has added an extra £250 to our food bills, as costly supply chain delays mean prices continue to rise. Labour shortages have compounded these pressures, and scarcities of goods and services have squeezed margins further in all industries. To only the surprise of Downing Street and the Bank of England, people need higher salaries to keep up, creating the toxic wage-price spiral we are now seeing – with all the consequences for interest rates and housing costs we are now feeling.

Walking away from formal cooperation with our neighbours is a needless act of self-sabotage. Old challenges like trade remain unchanged, as firms struggle to retain exports with all the paperwork and delay. New ones like AI are almost impossible to regulate effectively in the public interest when you are a small island acting alone against global corporations.

The real tragedy is that many of the barriers Brexit has created are in themselves fixable, yet remain broken – our failure to do a deal on Horizon Europe is a case in point.

Those who once championed Brexit as the “freedom” which would unlock worldwide opportunities, are reduced to trying to salvage parliamentary democracy through the retained EU law bill. Refusing to admit the benefits of Brexit are non-existent, they embarrass themselves wailing that it’s “someone else’s interpretation” of Brexit – and not Brexit itself – that is the problem.

Yet politicians on all sides have been like rabbits in the headlights – startled by any suggestion we should say publicly that a decision seven years ago is feeding the catastrophe we face now. To recognise the impact of Brexit on our economic woes – and our capacity to do anything about them – is not to disrespect those who voted for it. The public are never wrong; it’s the politicians who need to be more honest about the consequences of what they promise.

The public are also not daft – they can see that these challenges are not the same in other countries. The UK’s problems are homemade, meaning our solutions can be too.

There can be no going back – the last thing a country facing a mortgage timebomb needs is the division and distraction of further referendums. But we can commit to a way forward.

The EU is not a perfect body, and is facing its own challenges too; as the far right, global uncertainty and inflation hit, fixing the poor relationship with the UK offers areas of mutual benefit to all. The remnants of the Conservative government are in no fit state to do this – only Labour can be the deal-makers this nation urgently needs, and show us a way out of this hole the Tories and hard Brexit have put us in.

The shadow foreign secretary’s office says their current position is the floor not the ceiling on our ambition. That’s why we need to explicitly commit in our manifesto to rebuilding our access to the single market. Joining the Pan European Mediterranean Convention can be a way to tackle the issues that paperwork not being in a customs union creates for British businesses. Similarly, striking a deal on work and travel visas will make things easier for those who have jobs in the UK and the EU.

Opinion polling shows that in all areas of this country, including the red wall and among those who supported Brexit, the majority of people support these proposals. With evictions, jobs and public services at stake, it’s not hard to see why.

Seven years of hindsight may be a wonderful thing, but it’s useless to the millions now paying the bills for Brexit. “What happened to the £350m from the side of a bus?” is an old and tired joke now. An extra £300 on your mortgage every month is no joke at all.

Next time Nigel Farage pops up to tell you this was a good idea, ask him how he thinks you should pay your rent. Brexit is not the only policy burning into our prospects, but it’s big enough and persistent enough that it must not be put in the “too difficult” box any longer.

Enough agonising over a vote that happened in 2016, or 2019. Now is the time for those of us who want this nation to actually have a future to take back control.