Theresa May’s Brexit speech shows the UK being turned into an insular, jingoistic nation

Theresa May’s Brexit speech shows the UK being turned into an insular, jingoistic nation

Date: 17 January 2017

Responding to prime minister Theresa May’s speech being delivered today on Brexit, Jean Blaylock the policy officer for Global Justice Now said:

“May’s obsession with immigration is not only going to cause substantial damage to the economy in her refusal to consider the single market option, it’s also turning us into an insular, jingoistic nation with no regard for human rights.
 
“We’re starting to see the vision that the government has for the UK after a hard Brexit – and it is terrifying. From Phillip Hammond’s threat for the UK to become a corporate tax haven, to the prospect of a trade deal with Trump that would basically be ‘TTIP on steroids’, the government is doing all it can to use Brexit as an opportunity to restructure the UK to give big business more power.  Far from taking back control from the elites, the elites are using the upheaval of Brexit to undermine human rights, public services and working conditions.

“May’s concept of a global Britain is a backward looking one, that seeks to build ties with authoritarian regimes with no regard for human rights concerns.  Whatever reasons people had for voting ‘leave’ in June, most people didn’t vote for extreme free trade, for increased inequality or for the UK to be turned into a corporate tax haven.”

Photo: Tom Evans/Flickr