Tim Farron: Britons must get the right to reject a bad Brexit deal

In recent years Yorkshire has worked hard to re-invent itself for a new economic age. But now all that is under threat from Theresa May’s decision to pursue a hard Brexit that would take us out of the single market.

New figures from the Centre for Cities report show that six Yorkshire towns or cities send at least half their exports to other EU countries.

Last week, I visited Doncaster to meet people who voted Leave in the referendum. Even though I voted passionately to Remain, I believe politicians on my side of the argument have a duty to reach out and learn what it was that drove people to vote Leave.

I understand their reasons: one factor I heard in Doncaster and other Leave areas I have visited is that many people across the country feel let down by Westminster, which hasn’t done enough to create jobs, improve housing and offer decent training. Many people feel they have missed out on the prosperity enjoyed by an elite. I get that, and I return to London arguing their case even more passionately.

But I humbly suggest that this legitimate complaint shouldn’t lead us to commit an act of monumental self-harm by leaving the world’s most lucrative single market.

In Doncaster, 57 per cent of exports go to other EU countries, the same share as in Wakefield. In Barnsley, it is 52 per cent; for Bradford, Leeds and York it is 50 per cent. This dwarfs Yorkshire’s exports to Donald Trump’s America, let alone Turkey, which Mrs May apparently believes can compensate for lost European trade.

The Conservative Brexit Government has said it is prepared to quit the single market even if it does not have a replacement deal in place.

Businesses are unsure whether to invest, jeopardising local jobs. No wonder the head of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) says businesses are “reeling”.

Mrs May also hints darkly about leaving the Customs Union, meaning Yorkshire businesses will lose access to all EU free trade agreements instantly, and we will then need to renegotiate them on our own. UK goods exported to the EU will also become subject to ‘country of origin’ checks, estimated to add four to 15 per cent to trade costs. For Yorkshire exporters that could mean British goods being held up at ports while boxes are opened and tariffs charged.

Ministers claim that because the economy did not fall off a cliff immediately after the referendum, leaving the EU will be a success.

While we Liberal Democrats are always optimistic about the potential of Britain to thrive, remember that Brexit hasn’t happened yet: latest City estimates put the cost of Brexit over the next 15 years as high as £200bn. Just imagine how many schools and hospitals we could build across Yorkshire with that.

We have enjoyed decent growth since the referendum because of healthy consumer spending, but just as ahead of the 2008 crash, don’t assume this will roll on forever.

The pound is falling, hiking prices in local shops. The increasing price of Marmite and Lego are small indications of a wider move by businesses to offset the fall in the pound with price rises. Meanwhile every house, pension and savings account in Sheffield or Leeds is worth less.

That is why the Chancellor has said Brexit might force on us a new economic model – code for massively reduced spending on health, education and regional investment which are so needed in the more deprived parts of this great county.

Inflation is expected to rise by three per cent a year, above average Yorkshire earnings rising at 2.5 per cent a year. That could mean an effective pay cut, not only making life harder for many people, but threatening our economic reliance on ever increasing consumer spending.

Because the proud cities and towns of Yorkshire rely heavily on EU trade it is essential that entrepreneurs and workers 
alike are given a real say over 
Mrs May’s Brexit negotiations.

If hard Brexit means severely limited access to the single market, huge new regulatory burdens on small business owing to being outside the Customs Union, and major uncertainty over whether any new trade deals will help our exporters, then Liberal Democrats believe the public should have the right to reject a bad deal.

That is why I am calling for any final deal to be put to a vote of the British people. Those whose livelihoods could be dented by a negotiation conducted behind closed doors are given the right to say “no”.

People voted for Brexit, not vote for economic decimation.

The Liberal Democrats are determined to fight for economic prosperity for Yorkshire.

Tim Farron is leader of the Liberal Democrats.