22nd August 2022
After much deliberation and hearing the vision as well as the policy proposals of each candidate I have finally decided to back Liz Truss to be our next Prime Minister.
I deliberately waited until the Northern Ireland Hustings were completed before making my mind up because it’s important to size up the candidates on their understanding of this place. While Liz has visited here more than Rishi over each of their careers that in itself isn’t a yardstick for how well they may understand the nuances of Ulster.
But upon hearing Liz’s emphasis of the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill and expressing the need for the Northern Ireland Party to be a lot more central to future General Election campaigns I was sold. Not that I didn’t give Rishi a fair hearing, however his address to members was formulaic. It was the same speech that had been given elsewhere and the concerns of the particularly discerning audience were not taken into account or even acknowledged.
On the most pressing issue of concern to members (as well as many non members here), the Northern Ireland Protocol, Rishi kept pushing the need for negotiation with Brussels, something they have continually rejected. Having endured the years of Theresa May giving the EU the benefit of the doubt, appealing to their better nature when they didn’t have one and offering concessions that were subsequently pocketed, such a position didn’t cut much ice with me.
Moreover when it comes to record in government Liz has had a consistent history of delivery whereas Rishi talks like he hasn’t been Chancellor of the Exchequer for the last 2 years.
As Secretary of State for International Trade she delivered over 50 trade deals to replace the previous deals we had as an EU member state, a sisyphean task that all the so-called experts said would be impossible. She even improved on the previous deals we had in the instance of the UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement by including services & digital industries, areas Brussels refused to countenance in their deal with Japan.
Further to that she initiated our accession to the CPTPP, a trade block that when we join will have a greater share of global GDP than the EU does now and is expected to reach 25% of global GDP by 2050. The EU will be lucky to maintain their current share by that time and to do so will take a miracle.
As Foreign Secretary she took on the mantle of the Northern Ireland Protocol negotiations after Lord Frost and was resolute in facing down the obstinance and ignorance of Brussels. As a result we are now in the process of relegating the paranoid predilections of the EU on petunia paperwork to an irrelevance.
This stance was rammed home at the Northern Ireland Hustings when responding to a member’s question about making a deal with the EU, she said “I will not accept anything that doesn’t deliver on the the key issues I talked about. So making sure that UK courts are the ultimate arbiter, making sure we have flowing East-West trade, making sure the people of Northern Ireland can benefit from the tax benefits delivered by the UK Government but also sorting out the regulatory system so businesses can operate according to UK law or EU law depending on where that export market is”.
A line in the sand has been drawn and Brussels must take note if they want to be considered serious partners in this endeavour.
Further afield Liz has cemented Global Britain’s position in standing up for Ukraine and led the way in pressuring our European partners to rethink their short sighted policies towards Russia. At the same time she has become a figure of hate for the Kremlin, a badge of honour if ever there was one.
On the current issues we face as a nation she has been determined to take a different path to the current and failed Whitehall orthodoxy by emphasising supply side economics. By prioritising tax cuts and deregulation to unleash the pent up potential in our economy to maximise growth, which is the only way to guarantee prosperity for our people.
Following on from that Liz is cognisant that in order to tackle the energy crisis we will need to increase domestic energy production which involves making the use of our own natural resources. She is also determined to reduce the extra costs imposed on consumers' domestic energy bills by suspending the green levy.
Wherever government action that increases the cost of living it must be reduced or eliminated.
While our manifesto commitments may have been slightly derailed by the pandemic we need a leader to get things back on track and deliver on the promises that won us an 80 seat majority in 2019. As far as I’m concerned the only person who can deliver that and see us through the current crisis while coming out stronger on the other side is none other than Liz Truss.
We need a fresh start and a fresh approach and Liz is just that!
