A No-Deal Brexit would be a terrible outcome. No matter how people voted in 2016, no one voted for the disruption and economic damage that a No Deal could do.
Leaving the EU without a deal is something I will continue to firmly oppose. No Member of Parliament should be willing to let something with such considerable risks to the economy, our Public Services and vulnerable people in our society, happen and I don’t intend to do so.
Below are the ways in which I have been opposing No Deal and the Government’s chaotic approach to Brexit.
February 2019
I challenged the then Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Greg Clark MP to provide assurances for the UK automotive industry, after Nissan’s decision not to build the X-Trail model in Sunderland as planned.
After Nissan took the decision to make the new X-Trail model in Japan rather than in Sunderland, I wrote to the then Prime Minister Theresa May outlining my concerns. In that letter I warned of the potential catastrophic impacts of a No-Deal Brexit on Nissan.
You can read my letter here.
Just 38 days before the UK was due to leave the EU, I asked Greg Clark MP when businesses such as Nissan could expect to have clarity on what trading arrangements would be in place.
March 2019
In March, with just 15 sitting Parliamentary days until we were due to leave the EU, I spoke to BBC Newcastle about the risks that a No-Deal Brexit posed and the amount of work that was being done by Parliament and companies to prepare for No Deal.
You can listen to the clip on Twitter here.
I also secured a Westminster Hall debate on the risks that a No-Deal Brexit posed to Public Sector catering, which some of the most vulnerable people in our society rely upon.
You can read the debate here You can watch the debate here
July 2019
After Boris Johnson became Prime Minister, I used his first statement to the Commons to ask him to rule out leaving the EU without a deal due to the impact it could have on the automotive industry.
August 2019
I am extremely worried about the impact that a No-Deal could have on the worst off in our society, so I’ve been calling on the Government to introduce a Hardship Fund in the event we do leave without a deal.
You can read my article in the HuffPost about this here.