Speech on the 10th anniversary of the United Kingdom's EU membership referendum

Speech on the 10th anniversary of the United Kingdom's EU membership referendum
Minister for the Constitution and European Union Relations, Nick Thomas-Symonds, delivers a speech on the 10th anniversary of the United Kingdom's EU membership referendum.
First of all, I hope that you have all had a fantastic and interesting day here today, and big thanks to UK in a Changing Europe and to all who have organised today.
I am very grateful as well for the opportunity to speak to you all this afternoon.
Of course, today marks an important day in our history, because it was ten years ago that the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union.
It was, of course, a momentous constitutional decision…
…and probably the single biggest political decision in my lifetime.
And of course, with every anniversary, there will be those who celebrate…
…and those who reflect.
For many of us, of course, we also remember the farce, if I may say so. Red buses, flotillas, the personal feuds.
But I think people also remember as well the exhaustion of it all…
…and the deep division.
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But either way, the people of Great Britain and Northern Ireland made a decision, and it is a democratic decision we must respect.
But what followed, though, perhaps not.
The real conversations around sovereignty, trade-offs, about responsibility were displaced by easy slogans and shouting matches.
Both sides, including the side I was on – the ‘remain’ side – did at times behave, I have to say, outlandishly.
There were those on the ‘remain’ side of the argument who couldn’t believe they lost, and refused to accept the reality of where they were.
And ‘Leavers’ took this nuanced issue and pushed for the hardest Brexit deal possible.
This split created a vacuum in British politics.
So, when the people said “we wanted change, or we wanted control”, what did they get?
They got ten years of unprecedented uncertainty…
…they got bureaucracy that suffocated business…
…and changes that undermined our national security.
And that historic decision also meant a succession of leaders that were faced with difficult choices.
Some leaders never grasped, frankly, the consequences of the route they took…
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…which meant working-class people had to pay more, just to stand still.
Small businesses drowning in paperwork. Supermarket shelves waiting for delayed deliveries. Lorry drivers stuck in Kent.
That’s years of British revenue— that frankly has been lost.
And for those brave enough to tackle the bureaucracy, they’re paying for the privilege.
Incredibly complicated wet-stamped documents, some 50 pages long, just for one shipment.
Some food rotting at the border, even.
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And - as anyone can see looking at this - it left us with no plan for collective continental defence.
None of this was an inevitable consequence of the Brexit decision.
These were choices made by the politicians at the time.
And Britain still has choices now.
Since 2024, when I first came into this role that July, working alongside the PM, the Government has made the choice to take another path…
…to make changes …
…to respect the vote ten years ago…
…but to be real about fixing the issues.
Protecting Britain in increasingly difficult times, making our relationship with Europe work for Britain, and, frankly, the world we live in requires us to do that.
Because in the ten years that we are reflecting upon here today, the world has changed.
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There is no British security, without European security [political content removed].
Because when we patrol the Baltic for shadow vessels, we do so with our European allies…
…and when we support Ukraine, we do so as a continent.
President Trump has said that Europe must stand on its own two feet. And I agree.
And on the course we’ve set, the next ten years will see Europe work together to face these threats, building on the security and defence partnership we tried to secure at the May summit in 2025.
We’re in talks to join the Ukraine support loan scheme.
Strengthening British defence industry ties across Europe…
…and reinforcing our NATO alliances.
And all of this is important, because the world is turbulent. We face conflict, disorder, and unpredictability.
But the sheer challenges we face alongside our European partners are not limited to war on the continent.
Conflict in the Middle East that creates financial stress at home. And most importantly, we now operate against an unstoppable tide of global protectionism.
It’s a protectionism which has provoked tariffs from all the world’s major trading blocks, which we set outside of and in between…
…slap bang in the middle of the tariff and protectionist crossfire.
Our relationship with Europe must change to reflect those shared challenges.
Global protectionism would hit us regardless of our relationship with Europe.
But because we repaired our ties with our closest neighbours, Britain is now better equipped to survive it.
We rejected the ideology of only viewing our relationship with Europe as an identity issue, rather than a choice about what works for British households and businesses.
Yet some leaders [political content removed] still reject the very idea of cooperation. They want us further isolated.
But isolation won’t duck the blow when global tariffs are knocking; it just leaves British factories standing out in the cold without a coat.
Isolation won’t lower your energy bills.
And isolation, frankly, ignores the reality that despite leaving the European Union, our country will always have to have a relationship with it.
In this new reality, economic strategy isn’t just about chasing future growth…
…hugely important though that is.
It’s about defending what we already have.
It is about economic security: protecting your job, your household bills, and our continent’s supply chains from global shocks.
And that has to be the principle that leads us as we navigate a changing world successfully.
The EU, our biggest trading partner…
…with whom our supply chains are intrinsically linked.
We cannot walk back on the progress we’ve made.
Damaging household bills at home and European supply chains in the process.
The next ten years will be defined from how we protect our continent’s economy, and rise to the shared challenges that do not respect the border in the Channel.
Because going forward is what matters - not looking back.
So what I’ve talked about- how we manage the threats and how we pursue and seize the opportunities….
…none of that is served by retreating to the binary choices of the past.
We cannot afford to be stuck in the mud for the next decade.
Either trapped in a cycle of constant exhausting conflict, threatening to unilaterally tear up treaties…
…not chasing unrealistic “what if” mirages of the past and how it might have been different.
It is time, I say, to wake up and reject the easy answers, no matter how tempting the scent of the nectar.
Because it isn’t good for our economy. We must not go back towards the division over pragmatism.
We do live in a post-Brexit world.
We shouldn’t make choices or promises based on how we have felt about the last ten years.
This is about the choices we make that shape the next ten years that have to be dominant now…
…protecting our economy, delivering opportunity, not entering into a trade war.
Prioritising frigates that protect our shores, not stunts on the flotilla
It’s about building a trusted, pragmatic partnership.
Being in the room for those discussions that could benefit our future…
…not being locked out of them.
It’s about making things better for businesses, about bearing down on household bills, and of course you have enhancing our defence forces.
You cannot, I think it’s safe to say, predict the future, but I think you can prepare for it.
And it is that looking to the future, that preparing for the future is the attitude that I have no doubt will be taken into the 2026 UK EU Summit, whenever that might be.
Thank you.