Should Brexit Have Happened? - Stella Creasy | Intelligence Squared

[Applause] it's always marvelous on your mothers in the audience um did anybody notice that both the speakers for the proposition got their defense in early suggested that you wouldn't be open-minded on this that you probably had already made up your mind I wonder what it is ladies and gentlemen that makes them not be confident in the case they want to make this evening and I think it's something rather simple it's that I'm not sure we've actually had the brexit that they promised us I think we might have had brexit in name only so let's look at the actual evidence of this and and I talk about brexit since it actually happened not 2016 but actually when we did leave the single market and join this wonderful Free Trade Agreement because all the evidence suggests that we have all the economic and social hit of leaving the European Union but none of the freedoms and benefits that were promised no one least of all Daniel I know can be happy with that Daniel I think of rather affectionately as the Kaiser Soze of brexit you didn't see him coming but we've all seen the consequences to be fair to Daniel he wasn't one of those people promising us that net migration would be under a hundred thousand a year that was Michael Gove it is now 239 000 a year he didn't drive a bus with 350 million for the NHS written on the back of it too far the NHS has had more money that's down to the pandemic not brexit and he didn't say we would take back control of our fish but the new research showing this year that significant EU access to the waters around the UK remain indeed to those in six to seven twelve nautical miles that we were promised would be hours and hours alone and in fact the evidence shows us that since we left the European Union the brexit trade deal means that exporting fish and seafood costs more and takes longer so the fish is less fresh and the customers have been lost so perhaps have more chips and less fish with your national dish thanks to brexit Daniel did say we could do better than being part of this Regional Association he calls it largest trading block in the world to everybody else but no matter geography wasn't important to him the UK has yet to implement though since we left the European Union a single brand new trade deal that it couldn't have had under the existing terms of the European Union Even in our relationship with Japan indeed the only point of contention about the new trade deal with Japan is whether we are worse off than we would have been if we'd stayed in the European Union Daniel didn't argue that we would need to leave the single Market but has now argued that we should never have left but it would be mad to go back it's a bit like being locked out of your house but then saying it's Madness to go and see a locksmith and get some keys cut so that you can actually get back in So this this brexit that nobody will take responsibility for what has it given us well as Ian Martin that well-known Ramona has told us exports for the EU I'm sorry to report Robin are down almost 12 percent that's not an insubstantial figure indeed the UK in a changing Europe's research and independent body shows that brexit has a 25 fall in Imports why does that matter because the Fallen Imports isn't just about whether you can eat french Brie or have um a German sausage it's actually about the money and the impact that you have on our production lines two-thirds of international trade is products that we use as inputs in our chains of production and supply chain what does that mean in practice for all of us it means it's much harder for our businesses to make do little wonder that EU UK trade relationships are down 33 and it is mainly small businesses we might be a nation of shopkeepers but many are shutting up shop as a result of brexit indeed it has affected the cost of living the biggest crisis that we now face post pandemic the increase in those trade barriers has led to a six percent increase in food prices again not my words the UK and a changing Europe independent research inflation in food products that Britain tends to import from the European Union like fresh pork tomatoes and jams was much more pronounced than that tuna or exotic fruit so basically ladies and gentlemen you're left with a Hawaiian pizza and not much else because you cannot eat red tape but you've got an awful lot more of it as a result of brexit and that is a hit not just for trade but also for our tax take because the obr again an independent body I'm sorry it's disappoint you Robert shows that economic growth is down four percent as a result of these Trends and every one percent of loss of growth is a nine billion pound loss of revenue for the NHS for social care for our policing but what about those regulatory freedoms we were promised surely surely those are those Sunny uplit lands well the reality shows us that since we've left the European Union very little has changed and it's not hard to see why the Divergence tracker shows us that for all those freedoms that were hard fought by people like Daniel and Robert there are only 27 cases of actual Divergence from those thousands of restrictive rules that the EU brought us in let's have a look at what some of those might be those benefits that you are voting for if you vote Yes tonight well they do include trophy hunting but not forgot and fur because of course nothing is too good for the workers it is about compensation on flights the government is using Divergence to make sure that you don't get as much compensation if your flight is delayed if you are sat at Gatwick in the coming weeks do think about that one as a benefit of brexit also non-recognition of blue badges for disabled people again a point of Divergence that the government has yet to do anything about for those those 2.3 million of people for whom a blue badge is a critical way of moving around the country as again UK and changing Europe point out the benefits of brexit document the government produced all 105 Pages was not short of ideas but many of those ideas were things that you could have done in the European Union anyway and most are recycled and possibly asking readers of the Sun as Jacob reesemork has now done to come up with ideas isn't the best use of those few civil servants that have actually come into the office's time because the truth is any radical Divergence is unlikely to be possible because what it does to business is ask them to choose it ask them to choose where they would only trade in the UK or what they would only trade with Europe or would they want to run two separate Regulatory regimes and with an audience nearby of 600 million customers it's not hard to see why business is calling for the government not to be radical and indeed there are some regulations you probably do want to keep for good reason for example right now the government is having to reconfigure our Airline safety regulations the ones that we've had from Europe that meant that planes were flying to AP could be be equally safe everywhere we're having to redo we haven't in the two minutes I've got left you've got time to talk about services or employment rights but when people talk about European red type that's often what they mean the fact that you can have an employment contract at all that comes from Europe that equal pay is underpinned by European law and we know from the beecroft report where this government is intending to go on those things and indeed Libertarians such as Daniel and Robert are often fond of telling us about the dangers of these overbearing States but when the state itself is taking away your rights who is it who's left to look after you and one of the challenges here is that the EU was giving you many more protections than you might have realized including on decent consumer rights whether you could indeed just buy one charger for your phone I don't know about you but I'd rather carry around one cable than many again something that this government has decided not to pick up we haven't even talked about the shame that is what is happening in Northern Ireland as a result of playing fast and loose with the Good Friday agreement but if we got bryno has the EU changed might be your question well surely we've achieved that we've given them the short sharp shock of walking out well not really actually the EU has worked together in Ukraine and we have been outside the room looking in the EU again has started to work together on refugees yet we are outside the room looking in and deciding to deport people to Rwanda what have we got out of Europe then well fewer politicians we don't have MEPS like Daniel was we've got those blue passports and the crown stamp on your pint glass and some people have made an awful lot of money out of it uh Crispin O'Day and hedge fund manner who lately contributed 650 000 pounds to the pro leave campaign made 220 million pounds betting as the pound collapsed post Europe and of course it is given work for politicians like myself when you've got 1500 pieces of legislation to rewrite we can do that rather than deal with the cost living crisis or climate change or the social care crisis so the answer is you must vote that we were wrong to do brexit but also we now need to fix it that's not about rejoining that's not on the table and it's not something I'm advocating but it is about accepting responsibility and your vote tonight for the point that Dominic and I make is to make people like Daniel and Robert take responsibility because Daniel you quoted the Henry the V speech for in the fifth speech rather when the campaign run the Band of Brothers who fought for our freedom um not least because that speech talks about those who were not there should hold their manhoods cheap when they weren't fighting with you and I'll leave you ladies and gentlemen think about what manners they're talking about because frankly the brexite has got this country by the short and curlies but as more Queen Margaret in Henry VI taught us wise men nurse it and wear their loss but cheerily seek how to redress their harms so by voting with myself and Dominic tonight you are sending a message to Robert and to Daniel to be a little less of a hooray Henry a much more like Maggie thank you thank you [Applause]

Channel: Intelligence Squared

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Keywords: intelligence squared, debate, intelligence squared debate, top debates, best debates, most interesting debates, intelligence2, intelligencesquared, iq2, iq2 debate, iq squared, Brexit, brexit effect 2022, brexit effect on trade, brexit effect on the arts, stella creasy interview, Stella Creasy, Should brexit have happened?, debate live, Effects of Brexit, brexit 2022

Id: o4g1ryAxUZw

Length: 9min 59sec (599 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 14 2023