Suella Braverman is a Conservative member of the British parliament and a former Brexit minister.
LONDON — Brexit is the honest fulfillment of a promise. In leaving the EU this week, we can fairly claim to live in a democracy that does not let its people down. It also marks the beginning of renaissance for our nation, enabling us to rethink our trade and immigration policy and restoring democratic accountability in the United Kingdom.
First, democracy. The battle for Brexit has been frustrating, wearisome and exhilarating all in equal measure. But ultimately, despite the crises and the chaos, I never lost faith in the quiet wisdom of the British people nor in our parliament.
The very act of putting this important question to the people in a referendum has revitalized our democracy. By muddying the waters of accountability, EU membership made it too easy for politicians in Westminster to pass the buck to Brussels. They were also forced to struggle against an interventionist, politicized Court of Justice of the European Union that doesn’t reflect British values.
With our break from the EU, British voters will once again know exactly who is responsible for what. On subjects ranging from supporting our steel industry or raising animal welfare standards, to keeping our rivers clean or setting VAT on sanitary products — British voters will be empowered. They will be able to make more informed choices about their lawmakers and kick out those who don’t represent them. Brexit has had and will continue to have an energizing effect on our democracy.
With the Magna Carta It was the British who began the tradition of parliamentary democracy that has been emulated all over the world | Matt Cardy/Getty Images
Germany’s first post-war chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, said that every nation had its genius and that the genius of the British people was for democratic politics. He could have gone further.
It was the British who, with the Magna Carta, limited the excesses of royal power. It was the British who began the tradition of parliamentary democracy that has been emulated all over the world. It was also Britain that led the Industrial Revolution, destroyed slavery and fought protectionism.
These successes can all be attributed to that British genius for democracy — our belief in the rights of the individual and the rule of law and our skepticism about excessive regulation. Brexit, the next chapter in our democratic history, will make our society fairer and more prosperous.
Second, trade. Free from the EU’s customs union, we will be able to use our new freedoms to link our exporters to centers of dynamic growth around the world — new markets that will account for 90 percent of world growth in the next 15 years, and where there is already demand for British goods and services.
It is striking that our exports to the EU have grown by only 10 percent since 2010, while our sales to the U.S. are up 41 percent, to China 60 percent, New Zealand 40 percent, Japan 60 percent.
By refusing to give the public a say on how low-skilled immigration is managed, the EU has caused faith in the system to collapse.
By setting our own tariffs and trade policy through free-trade agreements with other countries, we can increase choice for British consumers, which will in turn improve quality and lower prices — a benefit felt particularly by those on lower incomes.
The U.K. can become a true champion of global fair trade too, by incentivizing developing countries to industrialize and capitalize by trading with them on a more sustainable basis, rather than on the unfair playing field to which we subject them through the EU’s Common External Tariff.
By reclaiming the mantle of free trade, we will not just enrich the people of Britain but also become a force for good globally, lifting billions of people out of poverty. The moral and economic benefits of free and fair trade — made possible by Brexit — should be front and center of our renaissance.
Third, immigration. I campaigned and voted to leave the EU. I did not vote to pull up the drawbridge to international talent. And I am outraged by the smearing of Leave voters as racist and xenophobic.
But by refusing to give the public a say on how low-skilled immigration is managed, the EU has caused faith in the system to collapse. We will introduce our own immigration framework that is skills-based, humane and controlled, recognizing talent and informed by compassion.
We managed immigration before our membership of the EU — the system by which my parents came to this country as immigrants to serve Britain in the 1960s — and we will have the chance to regain public trust necessary to reinvigorate British internationalism and once again become a home for the world’s brightest.
Through democracy, trade, immigration, and economic and regulatory innovation, Brexit can energize our politics with passion, imagination and optimism. If ever there were a need for our country to fight for an idealistic and hopeful vision for post-Brexit Britain, it is now. Together we will make Brexit the start of a hopeful new chapter for our country.