John Redwood MP

On Friday I had the pleasure of giving out the Strive certificates to all those who have completed the business start up course organised by Wokingham Borough Council and their partners. People wanting to establish a business of their own gave present… read more

Under Labour junior Ministers spent most of their time it seemed on local and regional media and trade press. They tended to define the Ministers role as communication. If you went to a meeting with one of them about a constituency issue or problem th… read more

I have been asked to write about the so called cliff edge if we leave the EU without a deal. That is easy to do.

There is no cliff edge.

It’s another of those silly metaphors that have characterised much EU debate for years, like the instruction that we must get on the train, or be part of the convoy. The EU was never either a train or a convoy. It is a set of ever increasingly complex laws and rules, a single currency, common borders, the four freedoms and the rest as they progress to political union.

If we leave without a deal the planes will still fly from Paris to London on 30 March 2019, the Danish pig farmers, and French dairy industry and the German car industry will still send us their products.

I don’t understand why there is any lack of clarity on this simple subject. The UK owes our regular contributions up to the date of departure. The UK owes no contributions thereafter or special payments to leave.

If they want us to stay in the EIB we can come to an agreement about our capital in that Bank. If we want to stay in Erasmus and they want us in there will be a continuing payment related to our share of Erasmus spending as a non EU member of it. Our paid up capital in the ECB is small and not a major issue. If they want us to keep our small shareholding we could.

I had the pleasure of attending the National Grid graduation day for their interns. Under their theme of “Employability” they give young people a better chance of a future job by good intern programmes. One of this year’s intake has been offered a job with National Grid, who are helping the others find jobs or College or work placements elsewhere. Contracting companies of National Grid are encouraged to participate in their Employability programme. The current special school partner is Addington.

I welcome this good scheme to give students a better chance of employment, by concentrating on their many abilities.