Delivering Brexit Benefits

In 2019, the Conservatives won the general election with an 80-seat majority with the promise to ‘Get Brexit Done’. We did get Brexit done - despite enormous resistance.

The UK Parliament is once again supreme and the European Parliament has no control over our borders, laws and finances.

Following Brexit, we have been working hard to unlock the opportunities. For the constituency, perhaps the biggest benefit has been the Freeport Scheme which would not have been possible in the EU. Thames Freeport, which includes London Gateway, has received a £20 million Govt injection and now benefits from streamlined planning processes, simplified customs procedures, and full expensing. So far, Thames Freeport has attracted a whopping £600 million private investment and 1,000 jobs. And companies like DHL are opening new warehouses and providing new graduate opportunities. 

Looking further afield, the UK Government has signed 92 bilateral export agreements with countries around the world and it has signed 8 Memoranda of Understandings with US states including Texas, Florida and North Carolina. It has also guaranteed the entry of the UK into Asia's biggest free-trade zone called the CPTPP. The CPTPP is a market valued at over £8 trillion. All these agreements are good for UK businesses who will soon be able to access high-growth markets.

Some of the benefits of Brexit have been literally life-saving. Having left the EU, during the pandemic, the UK's Vaccine Taskforce procured vaccines months before the EU. As a result, we had the fastest vaccine rollout in Europe.