EU Referendum: Webchat with Andrea Leadsom MP, Tuesday 14 June at 1pm

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Andrea is currently a Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change, having been promoted from Economic Secretary to the Treasury in 2015. Following the Leave campaign's victory in June 2016, and David Cameron's resignation, she became one of five candidates for the leadership of the Tory party.

She was elected as the Conservative MP for South Northamptonshire in 2010. Andrea says her three areas of personal interest are reform of the European Union, reform of the banking system and establishing a network of parent-infant psychotherapeutic support through a charity, PIP UK.

We were lucky enough to host a webchat with Andrea Leadsom in the lead-up to the referendum - you can read the questions and answers here.

(And just FYI, we do have Q&As from other referendum webchats and from other points of view: as always we did our level best to give both sides a fair and equal hearing!)

Peace and love,
MNHQ

I'll come back with a question, but fantastic to have this webchat - I thought she was very impressive and persuasive on the ITV referendum debate.

Thank you for taking the time to do this webchat.

I am voting Leave regardless but I'd like to know what kind of trade deal you personally would like to negotiate if we voted to leave? I think I agree with Michael Gove (for the first time ever if I've understood his position correctly) that we probably couldn't join the single market or EEA because free movement would still be compulsory. I think a lot of people are intending to vote Leave to prevent such free movement so to continue with it would be a slap in the face to many.

I don't think we should be trying to get a deal like Norway or Switzerland, we are in a completely different position to them, they never joined, we are leaving. Perhaps we could give our support to them negotiating a better deal?

Hello Andrea

Full disclosure, I am not a voter, just an interested party. (EU permanent resident in the UK)

My question is prompted by the German minister for finance saying today that he did not believe Britain could remain in the Single Market after Brexit.

In this context of continental political leaders who would have a vested interest (both in terms of EU politics, and in terms of domestic politics) in making things rather difficult for the UK, could you please give us a sense of how you see the practicalities of EU-Brexit negotiations going?

for example in terms of timeline (2 years seems ludicrously short, it took Canada 5+ years to negotiate a much simpler trade agreement!), or in terms of what specific arrangement Britain will push for, or what you think other EU countries will and will not be ready to give.

Thank you.

Hi Andrea, thanks for coming onto MN. My question is:

Is the European Union a democracy?

Andrea, I too was very impressed by your performance on the ITV debate and hope we can see more of you in the next few weeks.
Can you reassure people that if we LEAVE, workers rights wont be swept away by the Tories please.
Also do you think we will have to accept free movement of people as part of any deal.

Thank you. You were a breath of fresh air to listen to last night.

Andrea, as Energy Minister and a Vote Leave campaigner - you will have access to information most of us don't and I am sure your department have researched the outcome of us leaving the EU.

Therefore can you tell us, will leaving the EU impact our energy bills - in the short, medium and long term - and will it be good news or bad news for our energy bills (figures would be great too)?

Hi Andrea

Well done on the ITV debate - great performance.

I too want to know whether workers rights will be "swept away" if we vote to Leave on the 23rd ?

Hi Andrea.

I also want to say how brilliant you were in the itv debate last night. The MN thread during the debate was unanimous in saying what a good speaker you are.

Can you tell us more about this European Tax Number that is being introduced and which you mentioned last night. Will this lead to a European Tax on us as individuals?

Hi Andrea

Thanks for joining this Webchat. I would like to know what your view is on why Leave has maintained the '350 million is sent to Brussels' as a key message, emblazoned on the bus when this is simply not true?

Surely it is critical that voters take their decision on the basis of the facts?

Hi Andrea,

Well done in the debate. I don't recall being so impressed by a politician previously relatively unknown to me before.

Could you comment on the impact a leave vote would have upon our fisheries, and by extension our fishing villages and small ports around the entire coastline? Do we know what the value per year of the fish taken ( stolen!) from our waters are currently and how would this cash help to transform our rural communities?

Hi Andrea

I am almost certain I'll vote to leave. However, the niggle I have is sorting out the trade deal with the eu and having to include free movement.

Is it viable, and likely, to strike a trade deal without free movement?

Hi Andrea

My question is this:

Would a vote to leave be the catalyst for some other countries to pull out of Europe? If so, would Russia pose more of a threat to a divided Europe and arguably weaker Europe?

Delighted to hear this webchat is happening!

I'd be interested to know: what do you think are the risks of remaining in the EU?

I am leaning to out but haven't quite made up my mind yet.I would love to have my concerns addressed.

How will ttip be resolved in the event of Brexit so that the government doesn't just sign up to something that seems to be unaccepted by pretty much everyone who is aware of it?

What are the conservative party plans for United kingdom in the event of Brexit, given that the contingency should have been planned by a responsible government with the countries best interests in its mind long before the decision for a referendum was announced?

Do you believe the British people will ever trust a Conservative government again if there is no contingency for Brexit?

What are the Conservatives plans for workers rights in the event of Brexit? Will they ensure that these rights remain protected?

(You were brilliant on the itv debate btw)

Sorry, more than one question, no-one seems to want to answer these though.

Hello Andrea,

Thanks for doing this web chat, I'll miss it as I'll be working, but my question is:

How do you think the Leave campaign has gone so far, what do you think will happen in the final few days, and what do you think the final result will be?

Hello Andrea,
Thinking forward to a possible post-Brexit situation, if the Uk government reduces the £60 million a week of subsidies to Uk farmers currently going through the Eu, do you think farmers will replace that money by reducing food production costs by going for GM crops, or to work towards housing development on their land?

Btw I think there are arguments for and against any option included in that sentence!

Hi Angela

Hugely impressed by your performance and that of the Leave side in the ITV debate. That debate was far more useful and revealing than any of the stage-managed one-to-ones that your cowardly leader insists on.

I wanted to know, when did you first become a Eurosceptic? For me it was when I sat down for a couple of days and read the Maastricht Treaty and did not like what I was reading one bit.

I thought Angela and Gisele Stuart were very impressive on the ITV debate.

I notice that the 3 ladies in the Remain camp, including that Scottish lady, are now being called 'The Three Witches' on various internet forums due to how they resorted to abuse - especially that awful sexist comments against Boris Johnson about being afraid to be given a lift home in a car by him.

If we do not vote to leave the EU this month our country will be changed forever. We will be swamped with millions of migrants in the coming years. The NHS will collapse as a result. British people will find it harder and harder to get their children school places and the entire British benefit/pension system will also collapse within a decade.

Merkel's plan is clearly to invite millions of migrants into Germany, to give them EU passports and then that gives them the right to come to the UK, to take our benefits, to take our housing and to simply swamp and change British culture forever.

If we do not vote to LEAVE THE EU within a generation the British way of life as we know it will be gone forever.

How are things these days with your boss Amber Rudd? What do you think of the misogynist abuse being thrown at her e.g. being one of 'three witches'?

Many "leave" voters agree that leaving the EU would cause economic pain in the short term but this would be worth it for benefits in the long term. What, specifically, do you believe these long-term benefits will be? How would the government support those in the interim, whose economic well-being is directly impacted by leaving the EU and the generation of young people due to enter the jobs market in the next few years, when the economy is suffering from uncertainty?

tawse57 you do know that this thread is for questions to Andrea? Or did you just feel like letting off steam?

Is it correct to say that to REMAIN is like letting to many people into a house party and not setting a end time for all attendees to leave? In other words the house will be trashed, the food and drink will run out and conditions inside will be cramped - so it makes sense to invite who you really want and to set limits on numbers and time. Do you agree with this analogy - worried that too many gate crashers will spoil it for all settled and living here.

Does Nadrea support Leave in order to limit immigration? Does she agree with Merkel et al that if we want free trade with the EU will will have to continue to allow free movement of people? If that is true then leaving won't allow us to limit immigration anymore than now, yet limiting immigration seems central to the Leave vote. Can she explain exactly how she thinks immigration could be limited if we want to sell goods to Europe?

I'm interested in the issue of human trafficking.

However I haven't heard either side yet say how this vote will impact this 'industry'.

Will leaving help?