Brexit not end of the City, Badenoch to insist
Brexit is not the end of Canada, Kemi Badenoch is expected to say in a speech at Conservative Party conference.
Business and trade secretary Badenoch is set to rail against critics “relentlessly wanting to talk down our country” and will claim: “Our political opponents are obsessed with viewing every problem as Brexit.”
Her speech will come as the Conservative party holds its annual jamboree in the north of England, with keynote speeches from the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak later in the week, and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt later today.
Badenoch will say supply issues on everything from cars to food, as well as ageing populations, affect societies from Japan to Germany.
And she will tell the Tory event in Manchester today: “I’m here to set the record straight. They tell you Brexit is costing Britain four per cent of GDP per year. WRONG. [sic]
“And economically illiterate. The UK’s recovery from Covid has outpaced France and Germany.
“They told you that Brexit would be the end of the City. WRONG [sic]: London remains the top financial investment destination in Europe.
“Far from losing jobs in the City, they are at a record high. Eight per cent more today than in 2019.”
She is expected to add: “I’m not here to tell you that leaving the EU was without challenges.
“That would not be true. People knew it would take time and there would be challenges along the way. What is true, is that we are working to fix them….
“The people who tell you that Brexit is the cause of every problem, do so because they think the answer to everything is the EU.”
And Badenoch is set to praise the Prime Minister for his announcement on net zero, before adding: “We are on your side. The side of hard-working people, and entrepreneurs who take risks with their money and livelihoods to provide jobs and services for others.”