At last, truth in the Commons over Brexit

In the Commons on Thursday, Jonathan Reynolds and his team faced questions from MPs. An hour with the secretary of state for business and trade is not normally the most exciting parliamentary occasion, but what a pleasure this one was. Because after eight years of little more than lies we actually heard a ministerial team telling the truth about Brexit.

Tim Farron, the former Lib Dem leader, started the ball rolling with a question about skill shortages in his constituency and how to improve them by getting back some level of freedom of movement with the EU. Reynolds responded not by saying Farron was a traitor talking Britain down by calling on all sides of the House to recognise that imminently there will be “practical and pragmatic things I will ask all members to support” on qualifications, food standards and so on.

I am not sure the few Tory members in the chamber looked like they would support any such thing, but everyone else did.

Then Helen Hayes (Labour, Dulwich and West Norwood) pointed out that “47% of total trade for the United Kingdom is with the European Union”. She might have been hissed at in the time of Johnson or Truss, but here was told that “improving trade is a central part of this government’s ambition to reset our relationship with Europe”. After eight years of hearing that trade with Tonga was the way ahead, this was a welcome relief.

When did you hear a Conservative minister admit when told by a backbencher that “goods exports to the European Union are still 11% lower than they were in 2019”, as Reynolds was, that the figures were true and accurate? Let alone that he hoped to do something about it?

Or when asked about the issue of an airline cargo company hampered by more red tape, the end of reciprocal arrangements with the EU and the non-recognition of pilots’ qualifications; did you ever hear a Tory minister say, “I can promise her it’s a priority for us”?

Or on the shortage of seasonal fruit pickers after Brexit, “we can make tangible improvements for businesses in his area and for everyone”.

What has it come to when ministers standing up in the House and actually telling the truth about the damage that Brexit has done is so refreshing? Why is it shocking to hear a government minister admit that the current deal is awful and needs improving, that numerous sectors have been hit for no good reason, that trade with the EU has flatlined, and something has to be done?

It is because we have just become desensitised to the bluster, the denials of basic facts, the refusal to acknowledge reality and the outright lies. For eight years we have been told that black is white.

Tory ministers ignored the needs and reasonable requests of whole sectors of the economy while pushing poisonous filth about immigration, useless trade deals and self-imposed border controls down the throats of us all.

The truth is out. Perhaps more Commons conversations like this will eventually force the government to change tack and seriously renegotiate our deal with the EU.

But even now the fresh breeze of honesty, pragmatism and fact-based policy making is a joy. What a difference the truth makes.