Fareham MP Fernandes says UK would be better off outside the EU

FAREHAM MP Suella Fernandes has announced she will campaign for Brexit.
Fareham MP Suella FernandesFareham MP Suella Fernandes
Fareham MP Suella Fernandes

Ms Fernandes said that while prime minister David Cameron had ‘secured the best that he could have’ in talks with other EU leaders, she felt the UK would be better off outside the union.

Ms Fernandes said: ‘We sent our best batsman [Cameron] to the crease and he played a blinder with the balls that were bowled. But characteristically of the EU’s intransigence and inflexibility, it was unable or unwilling to offer the fundamental changes that Britain needs to justify our continued membership.’

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Ms Fernandes joins Portsmouth North MP Penny Mordaunt as backers of the ‘out’ campaign.

She said sovereignty, political accountability and business advantages were the main factors behind her position.

She said: ‘I am uncomfortable with the fact that our legal system and laws are increasingly overridden by the EU. Decisions of the European Court of Justice have gradually established the principle that EU law has supremacy over our laws.

‘The right to initiate legislation lies with the unelected and remote European Commission, whilst the elected element – the European Parliament – suffers from a lack of legitimacy and relatively weak powers.

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‘Whilst the single market has many benefits, I do not accept that these require us to remain a member of the EU at any cost.’

Ms Fernandes said the EU damaged the ‘democratic credibility’ of UK institutions and prevented steps such as reducing the VAT on women’s sanitary products and charging male drivers more than women for car insurance.