MP stands up for Brexit at Q&A session for public

Suella Braverman, MP for Fareham, held her ‘Brexit Question Time’ event – formulated in the same way as the BBC’s Question Time – at Portchester Community School.

More than 80 locals arrived loaded with questions about everything from support for small businesses, to negotiations being scuppered by arguing Tories, to what preparations are actually being made by government.

Suella explained why she voted to leave the European Union (EU), citing trade limitations and her concerns about immigration.

One resident asked the MP to state the benefits of Brexit, adding the national headlines are always negative and he doesn’t know what to think.

Suella responded: ‘Any occasion a government member speaks out it’s twisted and turned into some kind of crisis. We have made so much progress, and passed complex, essential and wide-ranging legislation.

‘Economic well-being will kick in. There are millions of jobs in the EU that depend on the fact that Britain is the customer.’ A small business owner asked Mrs Braverman what the government is doing to help exports succeed in this difficult trading period.

She replied: ‘It’s a fallacy to think Britain is completely dependant on the EU for trade, and there is a lot of work going on at the Department for International Trade in looking at what the new trade deals are going to be like when we leave the EU.’

She also said its down to British businesses to ensure they flourish.

But the resident hit back, saying he often has difficulty getting goods into the country.

Residents were told the government has set aside £3bn for Brexit preparations.

An elderly gentleman asked if a disruption with the Conservative party’s rebels could act as a setback to negotiation progress, but Suella responded: ‘We have to allow debate but we are all on the same team.

‘I do believe there is an overarching unity in the party that will prevail.’

Following the UK’s referendum on EU membership in June 2016, Britain is scheduled to leave the union on March 29, 2019 – 46 years after it joined.