Iqbal Mohamed

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Barker. I am a democrat, and I respect the will of the people. But to be blunt, Brexit has been the biggest fraud in the history of Britain. Ten years ago, the British people were sold a fantasy. They were told that Brexit would make us richer, but almost every person in my constituency is worse off today than they were before 2016. They were told that it would reduce red tape, but we have heard from across this Chamber that many businesses have stopped trading with the EU. Dewsbury and Batley, the bed capital of the UK, has seen trade reduced. People were told that Brexit would restore national sovereignty and allow Britain to take back control. Instead of taking back control, we lost the control we already had. Instead, Brexit has been an unmitigated disaster. The British public were deceived and failed by their politicians. Charlatans peddled falsehoods masquerading as truisms. The former Prime Minister Boris Johnson toured the country on a red bus promising an extra £350 million per week for the NHS—where is he? What about the hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage), who spent decades insisting that Brexit would transform Britain’s financial fortunes? Liam Fox, the former International Trade Secretary, said that the Brexit trade negotiation “would be one of the easiest in human history.” How did that work out? We were told by various leave campaigners, including Michael Gove, that the UK would retain essentially frictionless trade access to the EU market while escaping EU rules, and that Brexit would produce a large fiscal dividend—we are still looking for that money behind the sofa. We were also promised that new trade deals would more than compensate for any loss of EU trade, but we have heard about the miniscule benefits of the trade deals we signed. Some would say that we should not reopen old wounds or that the referendum was a once-in-a-generation event and disregarding its outcome undermines the legitimacy of the democratic process. But in this instance, I fundamentally disagree. When a referendum is decided on the back of half-truths, lies and downright deceit, we must be willing to look at the evidence again. This is not just a matter of economics; it is about the kind of geopolitical world we now find ourselves in. Across the Atlantic, the United States no longer provides the political, economic, and strategic certainty that Britain has relied on since the end of the second world war. We are living in an age of unprecedented global instability. At the same time, transnational challenges such as frontier AI systems and climate change demand co-operation. In this brave new world, fragmentation is a weakness. Unity brings strength. Europe’s nations face the same challenges as us. We share the same democratic values, security interests and economic future. The question that faces us, then, is simple: will we be honest enough to say that Britain’s long-term future lies inside the European family of nations? Britain would be stronger, safer and more prosperous inside the EU. The sooner we have that national conversation, the better.