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

[BojanaMumsnet]

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

Thanks Andrea, I won't be here on Tuesday. But my question is. Will it be easier or harder for exporters to sell to the US after Brexit? And will there be more support for SMEs from government?

If the result of the vote is to leave the European Union on 23rd June, will this be accepted and acted upon or could MP's and/or the House of Lords still block an EU exit?

As a Leave campaigner how do you feel about the Royal Family and House of Lords? Both unelected and hold both real and theoretical power over our democratic system. Surely if Britain votes out we then need to evaluate other sources of unelected power?

I should clarify that as we vote for MEPs and they in turn vote for council members I do not in any way see the EU as unelected or undemocratic. The unelected systems I mentioned in my post, absolutely are undemocratic.

Winterbiscuit, whatever do you mean? MPs and MEPs are elected separately and fulfil different roles. I suggest perhaps you spend time looking at the work they do and consider that this is how a representative rather than direct democracy works, which is where you seem confused.

The point I very clearly made that you cannot object to an elected system whilst supporting two unelected and powerful systems.

What initial and long-term effects do you believe Brexit would have on our economy? Better In campaigners suggest we would experience economic shock if we leave

Hi Andrea.
My biggest concern at the moment is the energy costs of the UK that feed into house bills, transport, food, housing, and all the services and consumer's essentials we buy. We know UK imports 25% of its energy needs. My question is 'Would the energy costs in the UK increase when we Leave? can you support reasons for your answer please? Any time scale?" Thanks.

My question is about housing. If we leave will this give the youth already in the UK a chance to be housed either in social housing or by buying as we have been told that there will be affordable housing built. I would like to see a fairer allocation of housing and houses for key workers who are in the NHS or teaching.

Hello. I won't be able to 'tune in' at the time allotted but my question is: (and please answer it)

what does leaving the EU mean for the disabled and their carers? Is money and more resources going for us? Ive already seen a difference in recent months in various things.

and housing the millions of already homeless in THIS country.

Im vote leave by the way.

sorry, just a extra question. didn't the UK fare well BEFORE joining the EU? why is all the scaremongering about sinking without it?

weve survived before, plus we are NOT connected to the Europe mainland,

Andrea, I would love to know how you square your interest in parent infant psychotherapy (PIP) with the cuts from your party- including cuts to training child psychotherapists. I know that this isn't for this debate but hope you read this anyway.

Very sorry that I now have to work tomorrow. I will try to catch some of the discussion while it's live. I can't be part of it.

Won't be here, but could you explain simply why the Commission and British democracy are incompatible?

Why the commission having "right of initiative"( and are also obliged to fulfil treaty objectives ) is incompatible with electing, and most importantly, dismissing our elected representatives? If British electorate don't agree with any EU laws, we have no way of voicing and overturning a law.

The treaties are unchanged and Cameron's four year "brake" on benefits for migrant workers will be challenged in the European Court, who are supreme above our highest Court.

Why do you think some are happy to accept this loss of sovereignty?

The idea the commission is similar to our civil service - ie that they draft is is correct but only half of the picture - the other role being Commission has the "right of initiative"; the direction of EU legislation is in hands of unelected commission and we are unable to dismiss.

Sorry so long.

Just to say -4 years or 7 years regarding in-work benefits "emergency brake" ?
It is irrelevant to me, as I am not in favour of "asking" every other EU leader for a decision on British benefit system.

Thanks for all the questions so far.

We've got a few more from Gransnet.

• Will all small businesses do better if freed from the restrictions of the EU? (rosesarered)

• There are policies on both sides that make sense and there are policies that don't. My issue with the Leave campaign is twofold. 1) It's playing right into the hands of the 'little Englanders' at a time when we should be doing everything we can to harmonise international relationships, not distance ourselves from the 'bloody foreigners' 2) it's supported by a number of people I consider to be bigots, xenophobes and fools (not all of the people are all of these things and I won't specify which 'qualities' I attribute to the following) among them Donald Trump, Nigel Farage, Katie Hopkins, Michael Gove, Nick Griffin. I would like to know your views on both points and how Leave can distance itself from the underlying racism that seems to be behind the votes of all the people I know who are voting that way (hotandbothered)

• I can only agree with what Hotandbothered has written, especially as the Leave campaigners seem to be concentrating more and more on immigration. All members of my family who are still working have been advised by their employers that their jobs are more secure if we stay in the EU [these are multinational companies by the way]. If we leave can you guarantee that they will have jobs in the future? And, what will small employers who rely on EU markets do if they do not have the finances to open up new markets in other countries, which I believe JCB [who are supporting 'Leave'] have been able to do, as they have the money to do so. Will small companies be financed in some way? (Tegan)

We need priti patel on to tell us about all the red tape they are going to cut....(nightmare!)

will we see more of you in the run up ie on TV?
Will the campaign be reassuring voters the Tories will not and cannot strip away all the rights we have

Will David Cameron ever use his veto to block any country joining the EU e.g. Turkey?

Does Andrea support the reopening of UK fisheries after Brexit when we would get control of our 200 mile fishing waters back?

Does Andrea think it is acceptable that the EU courts have ruled that the UK has been ordered by the EU to pay big business back £43 billion in taxes because the EU overruled UK tax law?

hi everyone! delighted to be here out of the rain, and looking forward to your questions......Vote Leave on June 23!!!

@SpringingIntoAction

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.

Thank you very much SpringingIntoAction, that's very kind.

For me, I spent a lot the last Parliament setting up and running the" Fresh Start project" with a group of other MPs. Our hope was that if analysed how the EU affects the UK we could propose serious reforms to make it work better for all members. I thought we would stay in a profoundly different EU. And it was only when the PM came back with clear evidence that the EU is unreformable, that I decided we are far better off by leaving. (Most of my Fresh Start colleagues concluded the same.)

@shitchef

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?

Hi Shitchef and others who've asked about trade deals,

The UK has three big advantages for any trade deal with the EU. 1. We will be the EU's biggest trading partner.

1. We've spent the last 43 yers aligning our goods and services to theirs.

1. They sell us a lot more than we sell them.

So it will be more in their interest than even in ours to negotiate for continued free trade. We will get a "British option" that will mean EU manufacturers and farmers can continue to sell to the UK without tariffs and vice versa.

By the way, under World Trade Organisation terms, services are tariff-free anyway. A lot has changed since the EU was set up!

Those who say European politicians won't allow tariff-free trade are forgetting most of them have general elections coming up. They will know starting a trade war with the UK will harm their workers more than it will harm UK workers.They would be severely punished at the ballot box.

Hi Andrea,
I really value our working rights like parental leave, protections for pregnant workers’, support for equal parenting, paid time off for ante-natal appointments, paid holidays for part-time workers … to name just a few.

How can we be sure that the workers’ rights that were introduced by the EU will be protected if we leave? Especially if some of the leave campaign leaders have said in the past of their desire to cut regulations e.g. Boris Johnson “The weight of employment regulation is now back-breaking” Pritti Patel MP “If we could just halve the burdens of the EU social and employment legislation…”. Not very reassuring ! Can you guarantee that our workers’ rights will be protected?

@AlPacinosHooHaa

will we see more of you in the run up ie on TV? Will the campaign be reassuring voters the Tories will not and cannot strip away all the rights we have

Hi,

I will be flat-out of every minute of every day between now and June 23rd and on ITV and BBC all night on the 23rd! It's a once in a lifetime opportunity to take back control of our country!

Workers' rights are totally safe in this country. We championed equality and equal pay even before the EU existed and shared parental leave, tax-free childcare, minimum wage and now the national living wage, are all UK Government initiatives.

I know some people say that workers' rights would suffer, and so Gisela Stuart for Labour, and I, jointly, wrote an op-ed for the Times today on exactly this subject. Please do take a look.

Hi Andrea

Would you agree that the overall impression of this campaign (both Remain and Leave) for voters has been of Westminster politicians yelling at each other and trying to terrify voters with apocalyptic scenarios? Lots of heat, very little light? The whole thing has just made me quite cross - it seems our politicians really do think we're a bunch of cloth-eared thickos who can't cope with nuance. Do you have any thoughts on this?