𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Imagine we’re two years in the future. Prime Minister Burnham has just won an election based on a new Lib-Lab pact, a repeat of the disastrous 1970s government and with a manifesto commitment to rejoin the EU. Burnham will have by then already agreed to a series of bad deals whereby the EU demand money from UK taxpayers for symbolic arrangements which limit the ability of Britain to outgrow and compete with the Eurozone. All of this will have been cheered on by large swathes of the establishment, some of whom are philosophically internationalist and anti-British (the BBC, FT, Guardian etc).

Companies that are foreign-owned and in whose interests it is to restrict competition and innovation in “treasure island” as Britain was known to German car manufacturers. Businesses who would rather employ cheap foreign labour than train for home-grown technical and artisanal skills. Trade bodies reliant on government funds seek EU largesse along with the third sector. A time in which narrow sectoral interests take priotity and those of the nation are shunned.

This “doppelgänger” future would spell the end of Britain as an independent nation capable of self-determination. It is for this reason that a distinguished group of entrepreneurs, city investors, businesspeople, economists, academics and Brexiteers have signed a letter to the PM, and to prospective PM Burnham, asking that there be no move to rejoin the EU nor to get closer in a way that would restrict our freedoms. In other words that Labour should uphold its manifesto commitments and maintain its current red lines.

As the letter points out, we have already benefitted from Brexit. The Rejoiners own alternative realities have been shown to be seriously flawed and prior to this disastrous government Britain was outperforming Germany, France and the Eurozone on economic growth in the post-Brexit referenfum period.

Although we have been hampered by the financial crisis, the COVID lockdown and spending spree, and by debilitating Net Zero policies, the consequence of these has been majorly mitigated by the seizing of some Brexit opportunities.

Britain no longer pays membership fees to the EU which would amount to at least £25 billion per year and increasing – forever. We have escaped over 400 new regulations. The escaping of these has enabled us to become a haven of growth in areas of new technologies such as biotech and genome-related pharma and agriculture.

We’re the third largest centre for AI in the world, leaders in fintech and facilitated a newly liberated city of London forging ahead as a global financial and professional services centre, jockeying with New York.

The UK has also been able to create trade arrangements superior to those of the EU, not only rolling over previously existing deals but adding those with the Pacific region including Japan, Korea and Mexico, and also Australia, New Zealand, the USA and India.

These are the real growth areas of the world. And our exports to the EU have grown, with exports to the rest of the world surging even more since 2016.

Family businesses make up over 85% of UK businesses, including entrepreneurs and sole traders, which are the backbone of the economy but also the innovators, risk-takers and disrupters that create growth.

Only 8% of our businesses export to the EU single market and yet rejoining would mean all of the UK’s businesses would be obliged to follow the EU rules, be tied down with red tape and costs, including the around 70% that operate domestically only and the rest who export to the rest of the world.

It is not surprising then that the Independent Business Network (IBN) of family businesses organised the letter which will be on the PM’s desk shortly.

Wherever they live, the people of Britain want wealth, not welfare. Only the private sector can generate economic growth and the wealth that goes with it.

It is this which pays for everything else: public services, defence, healthcare, infrastructure, pensions and for people to enjoy and prosper. For the future of our country, the wealth of the nation and our security and existence the PM should read our letter carefully and act on it.

John Longworth is an entrepreneur and businessman, Chair of the Independent Business Network and former MEP

Our letter to the PM in full:

Dear Prime Minister,

As the United Kingdom approaches the tenth anniversary of the historic referendum in which the British people voted to leave the European Union, we write to reflect on the significance of that decision and to urge your government to remain steadfast in

protecting the sovereignty, freedoms and opportunities that Brexit has delivered and which the British people have consistently voted for. The referendum of 23 June 2016 was one of the most important democratic exercises in modern electoral history. More than 17.4 million people voted to leave the European Union, making it the largest democratic mandate ever delivered by the British electorate.

Across England, Wales and significant portions of every other nation of the United Kingdom, voters supported a vision of Britain as a self-governing, outward-looking and independent country, free to determine its own laws, borders, trade policy and economic future, and to hold its own politicians accountable for the decisions they take.

Ten years on, Brexit remains a defining moment in our national story. While opinions on the decision continue to differ, and while we acknowledge that the transition out of the European Union has brought genuine difficulties in respect of the EU (although not the rest of the world) in certain sectors — including agri-food exports, financial services passporting and the movement of professionals across borders — there can be no doubt that the United Kingdom today enjoys powers and freedoms that were previously exercised by the institutions of the European Union.

We have restored control over our trade policy, regained authority over our regulatory framework and reaffirmed the principle that laws governing the British people should be made by those directly accountable to them.

We further recognise that the trade agreements concluded since 2020, have afforded benefits and established the institutional architecture and legal precedents upon which genuinely transformative agreements can now be built. The ongoing negotiations with the United States, the accession to the CPTPP and the deepening of bilateral relationships across the Indo-Pacific, Australia, NZ, the Gulf States and the Americas represent a strategic reorientation that would simply not have been possible under the constraints of EU membership. These opportunities must now be pursued with urgency and ambition.

We recognise that constructive and positive relations with our European neighbours are desirable on both sides of the Channel. Europe will always be a trading partner, albeit diminishing. Mutual Cooperation on security, defence, and the fight against organised crime are sensible, especially as the world is becoming a more dangerous and unstable place.

Indeed, Britain’s contributions to European security, both through NATO and through bilateral defence arrangements between nations, demonstrate that deep and meaningful partnership does not require political subordination. A mature relationship with the European Union should be based on mutual respect and shared interests.

However, cooperation must not come at the expense of sovereignty. We are therefore concerned by suggestions that any future reset in relations with the European Union could involve concessions that dilute the independence secured through Brexit. Any arrangement that places Britain back under the effective control of European institutions, requires the automatic adoption of EU rules, limits our ability to conduct an independent trade policy, limits our ability to develop economic growth in key areas, or commits the United Kingdom to renewed financial obligations to Brussels, would represent a fundamental departure from the promises made to the British people — and would surrender precisely the freedoms that make the opportunities described above possible.

Indeed such an approach would mean that EU rules would apply to all British business, domestic and those who export around the globe, not just those few that export to the EU. This would be a major burden and drag on economic growth.

The British people voted to leave the European Union. They did not vote to leave in name only while remaining subject to external control in practice. Nor, we would argue, did they vote for a decade of managed decline in which the potential of independence goes unrealised. The case for Brexit was always a case for ambition.

That ambition must now be demonstrated in practice. We therefore acknowledge, honestly, that there is work still to be done. The productivity gains, the investment flows and the trade diversification that independence makes possible exist but have not yet been fully delivered. This is not an argument for reversing course.

It is an argument for governing with greater boldness and consistency — for removing the domestic regulatory barriers and EU barriers that impede growth, for concluding the trade agreements that remain unfinished, and for making the structural reforms to planning, housing, skills and capital markets that only a self-governing country is free to make at the pace and scale required.

We must be free of the tariff barriers to competition that the Customs Union would require, itself a major source of inflation adding to the cost of living. We must have the freedom to set our own interest rates and a have a dependent currency. It is vital that the Brexit freedoms afforded to the City of London are protected and boosted.

The favourable business and regulatory environment that has attracted fintech companies must be nurtured. We must never allow the stultifying effect of EU red tape to curb the potential of AI, biotech and genetic engineering, all of which have great potential for the economy. Nor must Net Zero rules and carbon borders be allowed to hit extraction industries and the energy necessary for AI.

As Prime Minister, you have repeatedly stated that your government will honour the manifesto upon which you were elected and will not seek to rejoin the European Union, the Single Market or the Customs Union. We welcome those commitments and urge you to uphold them.

We therefore call upon your government to ensure that any future negotiations with the European Union are guided by the following principles: No return to the Customs Union. No return to the Single Market. No restoration of freedom of movement. No transfer of any legislative or judicial authority to EU institutions. No acceptance of dynamic regulatory alignment without explicit democratic consent. No new financial contributions to the European Union budget.

No arrangements that undermine the United Kingdom’s independent economic, business and trade policy. Brexit was not an end in itself. It was a means of restoring democratic accountability and giving the British people greater control over the decisions that affect their lives.

Ten years after the referendum, the task before the government is not to reopen old arguments, nor simply to defend past decisions, but to ensure that the opportunities of independence are pursued with the vigour and conviction that the British people were promised.

On this anniversary, we celebrate the decision of the British people to govern themselves. We honour the democratic mandate delivered in 2016. We acknowledge honestly the challenges that have accompanied that decision.

And we urge your government to ensure that no future agreement compromises the sovereignty, independence and freedoms that the British people voted to restore — while holding it equally to account for the ambition and delivery that independence demands.

1. Mr. John Longworth Chairman and Businessman)

2. Mr. Lance Forman (Businessman)

3. Lord Henry Bellingham (Businessman)

4. Lord Moylan (Businessman)

5. Lord Redwood (Businessman and economist)

6. Lord Jon Moynihan (Businessman)

7. Mr. Simon Boyd OBE (Businessman)

8. Mr. Ian Herbert (Businessman)

9. Mr. Daniel Hodson (Businessman)

10. Mr. Brendan Chilton (Businessman)

11. Mr. Anthony Murphy (Businessman)

12. Mr. Johnnie Arkwright (Businessman)

13. Mr. Malcolm Penny (Businessman)

14. Mr. Roger Bootle (Economist)

15. Mr. Julian Jessop (Economist)

16. Professor Patrick Minford CBE (Economist)

17. Mr. Simon Woolcock (Businessman)

18. Mr. Jeremy Hoskins (Businessman)

19. Lord Peter Cruddas (Businessman)

20. Mr. Jeremy Fenn (Businessman)

21. Ms. Suzanne Evans (Businesswoman)

22. Sir Rocco Forte (Businessman)

23. Mr. Brian Monteith (Businessman)

24. Earl of Inchape (Businessman)

25. Mr. Patrick de Pelet (Businessman)

26. Mr Tim Martin (Businessman)

27. Mr. Alan Halsall (Businessman)

28. Mr Brian Kingham CBE (Businessman)

29. Mr Gregory Shenkman (Businessman)

30. Mr. Nicholas Allen (Businessman)

31. Professor Robert Tombs (Academic)

32. Lord David Frost (Former Chief Negotiator)

33. Hon. Anne Marie Morris (Businesswoman)

34. Ms. Catherine McBride (Economist)

35. Mr. Christopher Mills (Businessman)

36. Mr. Bob Gullett (Businessman)

37. Mr.Nick Guinness (Businessman)

38. Mrs. Pam Watts (Businesswoman)

39. Mr. Roger White (Businessman)