Webchat with Anna Soubry on Brexit and beyond - Tuesday 22 January at 10.30am

[BojanaMumsnet]

Hello

We’re pleased to announce a webchat with Anna Soubry MP to discuss all things Brexit. Anna was a Remain campaigner and currently supports calls for a second referendum. Anna made headlines a couple of weeks ago when she was harassed outside Parliament and urged the police to take more action.

Anna has been the Conservative MP for Broxtowe since the 2010 General Election. After more than a year attending Cabinet as Minister of State for Small Business, Anna chose to return to the backbenches in July 2016, be able to represent her views on the “positive benefits of immigration and the EU.”

Please do join the chat on Tuesday at 10.30am, or if you can’t make it, leave a question here in advance.

We’re expecting this to be a busy webchat, so only existing Mumsnet users are able to post on this thread.

As always, please remember our webchat guidelines - one question per user, follow-ups only if there’s time and most questions have been answered and please keep it civil. Also if one topic is overwhelmingly dominating a discussion with a guest, mods might request that people don't continue to post what's effectively the same question or point. Rest assured we will ALWAYS let the guest know that it's an area of concern to multiple users and will encourage them to engage with those questions.

And finally - we did have a pro-Brexit webchat guest lined up for this week (Jacob Rees Mogg) but they cancelled on us so we’re trying to line up a replacement as we speak.

Many thanks.

The official portrait of Anna Soubry is used under an Attribution 3.0 Unported licence - image may be cropped for purpose.

@Missbel

Thank you so much for standing up and fighting for the interests of the country in spite of the personal challenges this has brought you. Do you share Stephen Crabb's pessimism about the state of the Conservative Party, and how do you see the future of the Party post-Brexit in the light of its unpopularity with younger voters?

Yes.

@CariGransnet

From Gransnet...

Crystaltipps Do you agree that women MPs suffer more abuse of all kinds than male ones? If so, do you think there are any solutions?

I must say I do wonder if some of the people who have abused me, as we saw the other week, would treat a man like that. How do we stop it? We need to call it out and make sure we bring up our boys to treat women with respect.

@NotNowMrTumnus

Snog. Marry. Avoid / POAC.

Boris Johnson
Jacob Rees Mogg
Jeremy Corbyn

No cheating.

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It seems unlikely that neither Mrs May nor anyone else could at this stage achieve another deal which was acceptable to the EU and the majority of MPs. A no deal brexit would be catastrophic. Surely the best way forward would be to explain this clearly to the people and then revoke Article 50?

@SingingBabooshkaBadly

Anna, thank you for taking part in this Webchat and for the courage and determination you have shown.

Given that a government’s primary responsibitlity should be the protection of its citizens and, given that every predictions including those of the government itself, is that No Deal would cause immense damage, would the government not be guilty of a dereliction of duty if No Deal were allowed to happen? As a lawyer, do you see any legal case against an executive that allowed that to happen by refusing to take it off the table?

Yes to the first question and don't know to the second. I'm an old criminal lawyer! And no Brexit is not a crime!

No deal sounds blissfully easy and is therefore seductive. But is actually fiendishly complicated. Is there an easy way to communicate the main problems if we leave with a No Deal Brexit?

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Non question, but I accept that there are parts of Britain that think that migrant workers have had some adverse effect on their local economy, the evidence suggests otherwise.

Parts of Britain like the Bank of England who said "There seems to be a broad consensus among academics that the share of immigrants in the workforce has little or no effect on native wages. These studies typically have not refined their analysis by breaking it down into different occupational groups. Our contribution is to extend the existing literature on immigration to include occupations as well. We find that the immigrant to native ratio has a small negative impact on average British wages. This finding is important for monetary policy makers, who are interested in the impact that supply shocks, such as immigration, have on average wages and overall inflation. Our results also reveal that the biggest impact of immigration on wages is within the semi/unskilled services occupational group."

www.bankofengland.co.uk/working-paper/2015/the-impact-of-immigration-on-occupational-wages-evidence-from-britain

I say this as a semiskilled non-EU migrant, it really does no one any favours - least of all us - to ignore this issue. We can all see it on the ground and the National Living Wage is nowhere close to a living wage for many and isn't changing that effect. And, as a migrant who hasn't paid in much NI and income tax due to low wage work and years caring for my in-laws and family and community along with my own ill-health, I'm quite open to admit I'm not of much economic benefit to anyone, but as a person, I'm more than that. It's actually a bit meh this rhetoric that makes it seem that the only good migrant is one of economic benefit. I don't see why these issues are brushed aside as just 'parts of Britain' when so many of us at the bottom, even us migrants, can see it.

@frumpety

Thank you for taking part in this webchat Anna.

How quickly following no deal do you think the UK could re-join the EU ? Given that 26% of the public polled recently by Sky thought that no deal meant staying in the EU.

Of course we will never be able to join on the same terms we enjoy now. We have a unique deal with the European Union and I can assure you that if we were to rejoin it would be on their terms. So there would be no rebate, we'd have to join the Euro and Schengen. And in the meantime we would have wasted billions of pounds in our efforts to leave.

@RegularShowRules

Hello Anna You are probably aware there is a national shortage of Epi Pens (and this is before Brexit), how will the govt handle this crisis after Brexit when inevitably it will be harder for medication to be distributed? The crisis isn't being handled now so people will die if plans are not put into place quickly

Matt Hancock says that he is confident that if the plans the Government has put in place are properly executed, there will be no shortages. I don't know who your MP is, but you should write to them and get them to ask questions of the Secretary of State.

Thanks for all you do on this (and I say that as someone who's never voted for your party!)
If there was a second referendum, I'm concerned that the same misinformation would be cranked up on social media once more - it is already on Twitter and Facebook as James Patrick has observed. How could that be mitigated? Is that something Parliament could act upon in setting the terms?

If we do crash out without a deal is there any chance of a break away independent state of the East Midlands with you and Ken Clarke in charge?

Find out how Macron got the Russian propaganda filtered out and do that!

Anna, thank you for coming. I’m following your replies with interest.

I’m from Derry and achingly aware of both the GFA rights we would lose under a no deal scenario and the impact on daily lives of having that so-called border reinforced. I find it absolutely unacceptable that your party has a supply and confidence agreement with the DUP who represent only a minority of those in NI and virtually none of those in the ‘border counties’.
Have you spent time in Derry and are you talking to the elected representatives of the majority? It’s the only way to get on top of the latest outbreak of organised violence, and the rampant recruiting that so many of us aware of. It’s breaking my heart and we need support, understanding and communication from centrists like you.

@ThereWillBeAdequateFood

Hi

I’ve tried explaining No Deal and WTO terms to someone in real life. But it’s so darned complicated their eyes glaze over pretty quickly (possibly my fault).

It there any short succinct way to explain No Deal to people. It sounds easy peasy and most people are surprised I’m worried about it.

As a member of the EU stuff can freely move in and out of this country - it means that a business in Birmingham can buy and sell goods with a business based in Brussels or Barcelona in exactly the same way it can trade with a company in Bristol or Banff. No deal means that entire relationship changes pretty much overnight. And the border between us and those countries is reinstated. And so that business would be liable to checks and delays that we have not seen in British business for decades. That is why people are worried about essentials like foods and medicine which currently come into our country really quickly and when those changes come in it will delay them. The old days of huge warehouses quite rightly have gone because we don't need them and we can't build them overnight.

I would like to thank you for having the courage to speak out on Brexit. I have never voted Conservative but if you were in my constituency I would vote for you over many of the current Labour MPs.

There seems to be a scarily large number of people who say just go for no deal. I think the phrase no deal has the unfortunate connotation of having the upper hand, being in control and being tough. Also so many are just sick of the endless Brexit discussion and logjam in parliament, so mistakenly think no deal will mean it’s all done and dusted and we’ll never hear anything about it again.

How can the reality for no deal be conveyed?

Would it be possible to arrange a trial run of no deal so we can see what we are letting outselves in for??

@ColdBrexitWithMilkForBreakfast

As it's MN someone really should ask the biscuit question.

So Anna, exactly which biscuit would you most like to tell Nigel Farage to shove where the sun don't shine?

I think a wagon wheel, but the old size ones.

Or maybe a twix lengthways.

I couldn't possibly comment.

What would be your ideal Brexit deal, if remaining wasn't an option?

@gnushoes

Thanks for all you do on this (and I say that as someone who's never voted for your party!) If there was a second referendum, I'm concerned that the same misinformation would be cranked up on social media once more - it is already on Twitter and Facebook as James Patrick has observed. How could that be mitigated? Is that something Parliament could act upon in setting the terms?

I think we all agree the 2016 referendum campaign was dire. I think people now know a great deal more than in 2016 and I am confident we will not make the same mistakes again. Especially in failing to call out the blatant lies and fake promises made by leave.

I'm afraid that a narrow Remain victory in a People's Vote will make Britain more divided than ever. Your comments?

Will there be a change to the rules that state people need to be privately insured or working if they wish to become citizens, this directly affects stay at home parents who have been living here for years (and working most of them)

I think a wagon wheel, but the old size ones. I don't think they've ever been made big enough for that enormous arsehole.

Sorry/not sorry

@birdonawire1

What would be your ideal Brexit deal, if remaining wasn't an option?

Norway +

@whenthewhistleblows

What do you say to those who say that a second referendum on membership of the EU would be undemocratic?

If there was a second referendum, what question(s) would you propose the electorate vote on and , in particular, would back an alternative vote in this instance?

Thank you for all you have done to protect our national interests and I’m sorry you have been subject to so much vitriol.

I say it's profoundly democratic now we have something tangible to put to the British people. I believe people are entitled to change their mind now everyone is better informed (and that includes some MPs!)

I'm finding a lot of older Leave voters who want the opportunity to put the interests of their children and grandchildren first, and of course there are 2 million young people who weren't old enough to vote in 2016 who want a say in their future - they're the ones who will bear the burden of Brexit more than anyone else.

Hi Anna, I have huge respect for you standing up for your principles even at massive personal cost.

My question is, as TM's plan B appears to be a rehash of plan A, how do we ensure the clock isn't allowed to run down and we crash out on March 29th as a default?