Brexit LIVE Transcript

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Can I thank everyone who joined me for my first Facebook Live on Brexit.

This was a really valuable session and I hope you managed to find answers to some of the many questions people are asking about the process.

You will find a transcript of the entire broadcast below.

Syed Kamall

Note: This is a slightly edited transcript of the video to make it easier to read as text rather than spoken speech.

Well Good Evening.! It’s seven o’clock UK time and 8 o’clock Brussels time. Thank you very much for joining me for this Facebook live.

This is the first time I’m trying this so please forgive any sort of glitches if it’s not as smooth as the sort of the Jeremy Paxman or the Andrew Neils or other presenters you might see.

I’m Syed Kamall. I’m the member the European Parliament for London and also the leader of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR). The ECR is the third largest of the eight political groups in Brussels and the European Parliament. My group has MEPs from various countries such as Poland and Denmark. One of the roles that I’m playing is probably the most Senior Brit in Brussels and elected Brit in the European Parliament. I play a very valuable role as a bridge between the UK and the EU. I know many of the people in the British government andI also know a number of the people here involved in negotiations. I speak regularly to them. What I want to see at the end of the day is a better relationship, a new relationship in the interests of both the UK and the EU as much as possible and have a better relationship and a more honest relationship going forward.

Let us first of all talk about this Facebook live Brexit talk. A bit of housekeeping first of all. Please do share to others during the Facebook live. Please feel free to tweet. Please feel free to like or follow, get the message out and please feel free to comment. We have about 30 minutes and I’ll try to answer all the questions. If I can’t answer all your questions in 30 minutes then I will and answer them over the next coming week through my social media channels.

In addition, I’m doing a second Brexit survey. I did one earlier this year. You may well have seen the videos with some of the results from those Brexit surveys last week and earlier this week. We’ve got a new survey coming out and you can go to https://www.syedkamall.co.uk/survey to fill out those questions and please do feel free to go to go to that survey and fill out the questions.

Let’s go and see some of the questions.

First question is from Jordan : I’m 17 years old, how will Brexit affect me if I want to go to France to learn to cook French food. Do I need a visa and how will the UK be strong by 2019?

Well first Jordan can I wish you the very best in your career ambitions. I think it’s great that we’ve got British chefs go around the world and great that you want to go to France. We’ve had travel between France and UK in fact between many countries for a number of years even before Britain joined the EU or joined the EC in the early 1970’s. There’s no reason why this should be any different this time. Clearly the exact terms will depend on the negotiations but  if you look at the rights of UK citizens with British passports to travel around the world currently you can travel to more than countries outside the EU without needing a visa. Furthermore, there are  other countries where you do need a visa but you can apply and purchase the visa when you arrive.

What the UK government will seek to do is negotiate an agreement where there visa-free travel and it may well be that some EU countries do want to put up restrictions. I speak to many of my friends in other EU countries and they’re saying that they very much hope that travel at the moment can can carry on as much as possible. The problem is not people traveling even to work or tourism the concerns with issues relating to travel and local businesses. I’m confident we’ll get a good deal and I hope very much to see that.

Katherine says:  I have a British passport and I’m a British citizen I can travel to Europe and other non EU countries. How would leaving the EU affect my travel outside the UK to other countries. Will this mean that I will have to apply for a new passport?

I think one of the saddest things about the referendum last year was that there was a lot of nonsense on both sides of the Leave and Remain camps. One of the things I remember some people saying was if we left the EU you wouldn’t be able to travel anywhere else and know all no-one will want to trade with us. Clearly that’s not true. You won’t need to get a new passport. What will probably change is the words of your future passport will say : ”United Kingdom Great Britain Northern Ireland’‘. It won’t have the words ‘European Union‘ and as I said to Jordan earlier. We hope that the EU will not insist on making new cases . But don’t forget there are many countries in the world outside the EU that you don’t need a visa for and we very much hope that the EU continue to not needing visas for us. We are at the start negotiations, there’s lots of tough words on both sides and that’s what you expect. Lets hope that people see sense in the end.

Rashid asks: Would the Germans stop sending their Mercedes Benze, Aldi, Volkswagen, Bosch and Siemens products to the UK? Or will Lidl and Aldi stop investing in our supermarket’s or will the French stop sending us their wine and will the Belgium stop selling us their chocolates or will the Spanish stop selling us their satsumas? It seems to be that there’s some people who think that no one will sell to us and that it’s just a favour?

That’s a very good point. It’s very much a two-way street. We will be one of the EU’s biggest export markets. Let’s not forget that the UK is probably the world’s fifth or sixth largest economy in the world. Even if we weren’t members of the EU, now what would happen is if you were the EU and you have the fifth or sixth largest economy next door to you and you have a lot of mutual trade, of course you’d want to do a trade agreement! what we hope to see is a new relationship! Not the UK being reluctant neighbours or being reluctant tenants but being good neighbours! That’s the sort of more positive and more honest relationship that we hope to see in the future.

Angela says: In the Referendum we democratically voted to leave the EU. My question is why are we messing about negotiating various deals we want to leave completely and self govern?

Well Angela we have been members of the EU ( the EC originally for more than years). That means there are lots of our laws and lots of our relationships are quite deeply intertwined that means that we’re going to have to untangle some of that stuff before we get a new relationship. It’s not as simple as closing the door and leaving the keys in the post box. Of course as well we want a good relationship with the EU when we leave we want a mutually beneficial relationship and it’s surely better. What’s more important is that how long it takes or how speedy the negotiation but importantly what agreement we get. Surely it’s worth trying to change the relationship with EU that we have to take our time to talk to our EU partners and hopefully have a very positive relationship at the end of the day. Surely it’s better take a bit more time and again get a good relationship than by simply walking away.

Julie asks : Do you believe that the EU really is determined to punish the UK for Brexit or will they eventually take a more pragmatic and reasonable approach to the negotiations, one that benefits all of us?

Well I think that’s key I think it should be a relationship that’s mutually beneficial as much as possible. It shouldn’t be about trying to punish each other in any way. But of course this processes starts with negotiations. I’ve been a member of the European Parliament for more than 12 years. There’s a lot of posturing at the beginning of negotiations and I’ve likened it to a chess speech or weigh-in before a fight. I’ve likened it to the Hakka before the England New Zealand rugby game where both sides stare each other in their faces and you make all sorts of skeptical sounds. When you played on a game of rugby and then at the end of the game both sides walk away as friends. So let’s make sure that we have some of the same attitudes. Of course, you’re hear on both sides from the press. I speak to friends and some would say ‘oh we think that the UK is doing better in negotiations‘ and others say to me that the EU is doing better in negotiations. The truth is it’s too early to tell. What’s happening is that both sides are putting forward their positions and both sides are trying to negotiate. Both sides will push as much as they can. In any negotiations you will always ask for more than you actually want. That’s part of negotiating tactics. You’ve also got to be prepared sometimes that one party might walk away that’s the way negotiations happen and then you come back and you try and get a better deal.

Question from Kevin Dowd: I assume that you favour fairly open immigration policy. If so do you agree that the UK should not discriminate as it currently does against immigrants from outside the EU.

Immigration was clearly one of the biggest issues in the Referendum. There were people on both sides who talked about immigration as an issue. One of the things that I found a number of people talked about and want to see is a fair immigration system. Now we don’t have a fairly immigration system what we have at the moment is a system where anyone from the EU can come here and work. We have immigration system that’s favourable towards people from the EU most of whom happen to be white and then we have all sorts of barriers to people from outside the EU most of whom happen to be non-White. So I’ve have many people describe this as a racist immigration system. Whether deliberately or otherwise so what we now need is a fair immigration system where everyone outside the UK so they are treated equally. Whether they are from the EU or not from the EU and we get the very best tongue globally, that’s what we want to see we want to be an open country, best talent possible. So let’s have a proper debate about immigration. What skills do we need ? Let’s make sure we get the right people and the skills we actually need and people who want to come here and contribute. Let’s make sure we don’t discriminate against people from outside the EU and we have a fair system where people are treated equally. So whether from the EU or not from the EU we are open to the best talent in the world.

Verity Collins says: Scaremongers are saying that if we leave the EU, we won’t have cooperation between our NHS and European medical care. However, as Britain’s medical care is some of the worst in European and we lag behind the rest of the EU survival rates for cancer heart problems will Brexit make a difference? If so as medicine is international, why can’t we use Brexit to rethink cooperation between EU nations in exchanging medical matters and in the process make the NHS look to Europe to improve our medical care?

I expect cooperation to continue after Brexit in all sorts of areas. One of the things that we have to keep remembering if that there’s a world outside the EU. When we’re talking about international cooperation people sometimes get fixated or something so almost a ‘little Europe‘ mentality is that international cooperation means only the EU. I’ll give you an example, I used to be an academic and when I lectured at universities my colleagues had to apply for something called the Jean Monnet Fellowship. We ran courses on international business and international trade and we were told to rename our courses from ‘International Business‘ to ‘European Business’. Rather than teaching about the whole world we were told that we had to teach about Europe. I know some of my colleagues took the money and renamed the courses ‘European Business‘ but actually taught international business and we carried on with that global vision. It’s really important that we carry on and we make it quite clear this is a global vision not some sort of little European mentality.

Eloise asked: How long do you think that the EU is going to last now?

I’m not one of those people who expects the EU to fall apart. The referendum wasn’t about the end of the EU. The Referendum was about whether Britain should remain a member. Did we want Britain to be part of the European Union that was progressing toward a political union and towards a ‘United States of Europe‘. The referendum quite clearly showed that the British people voted not to be part of a United States of Europe. We want trade. We want cooperation and that’s the sort of relationship we’re gonna see. Is it really in our interest? We want to see a prosperous EU because it is in our interest because we want companies in the EU to have a prosperous economy so they can sell to us. In return they will have customers who want to buy British products and services.  I don’t think the EU will easily fall apart and there are people in EU who want to continue to seek reform. Behind me is the logo of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group. After the UK leaves, The European Conservatives and Reformists will continue to exist to keep pushing that message of reform in the EU  and stop it going towards this s post-war model of the United States of Europe or Federal Republic of Europe. Let’s have a more flexible business friendly, creating jobs Europe rather than the EU that we see at the moment.

Kish Sandor asks : The British Pound is getting weaker, weaker. I believe by the end of the year the Euro be stronger the British pound. Do you have a plan B for dealing with the situation?

Well the long term position of the Pound is what matters but two things: I don’t share pessimistic view and also I’ve never been one of these people who says that the strength of your currency is a great thing unnecessarily but in itself its a sort of a ‘macho’ alpha currency. I’ll give you an example, whenever the UK Pound was doing very well, I would get complaints from exporters who would say to me we need a weaker Sterling and say that ‘the Pound is far too strong‘. Now I’m hearing exporters say to me it’s great that we’re sending more products. I think the newspapers have been full of stories about how our exports are going up. Of course you’ll get people on the other side who say you know the rising pound falling impacts them. If it was the other way round and the pound was suddenly very strong a lot of our exporters will complain. That is the world of floating exchange rates and you get that all the time. Many businesses prepare for floating exchange rates and at times they do well out of it and at times it that they they do that less well, but thanks very much for your live question.

Nathan asks: The Financial Times highlighted trade agreements that the EU has with third countries. I was wondering what our trade agreements will be with those countries with which the EU already has trade agreements and regulative agreements. Are there  international rules and conventions in which these trade agreements continue?

The short and simple answer is that in many ways we will be quite happy to replicate some of these agreements.  Canada said it very much as welcome a trade agreement with the UK, very much along with EU Canada Agreement (CETA). I know the Japanese said the same thing and would like a trade agreement with us. Of course we’re not necessarily gonna have these trade agreements overnight. But it’s quite clear that the Department of International Trade  has been set up to sign these new trade agreements and has already started work trying to line up as many trade agreements as possible before we leave the EU. So when we leave the EU we’re not just scrabbling around, we’re having as many conversations. Now of course looking at least one of the EU templates it is easier than starting with a blank sheet but there might be things in the existing the new agreements that we may not want in the UK agreement. with some of these countries but one of things we should not forget is that you don’t need trade agreements to trade. There are many businesses in the UK that trade with companies in other countries outside the UK which the UK does not have a trade agreement with them. Who likes trade agreements? Negotiators like trade agreements! Businesses like to trade and of course trade agreements would regulate cooperation and non-tariff barriers people choose quite often helped facilitate trade but also it may divert trade at the same time.  I’m very pleased that Liam Fox is at the Department of International Trade. . We’ll just have to watch his space and trust our negotiators.

I’ve got a question from Aubry Price: Can’t we walk away and deal directly with the other individual EU governments?

No because at the moment the EU countries have agreed together that they will negotiate as the EU- and the Council that represents the EU- has asked Michel Barnier to lead those negotiationd the EU is trying to show a united face as much as possible (incorporating the Commission and the Council). Now I’ve spoken to a number of the Prime Ministers and Ministers from these different countries and what they’re saying to me is ‘of course we will stay as united as we can as much as possible because we want active unity‘ but if it gets to a stage where we might be facing a cliff edge and where we feel that our exporters. Companies who sell to the UK might be at a disadvantage or we might be facing a cliff edge then we will put more and more pressure on the EU negotiators. So just as in the UK we have an opposition party that keeps changing its mind to try and put pressure on the British government on negotiators. We have people who want to stop Brexit because they want to put pressure on the United Kingdom Government at the same time we will have individual governments and politicians from various EU countries who want to put pressure on the EU. So we’ll get pressure on both sides.

The next question is from Winne: Syed, voting for Brexit was like buying a house without even seeing the artist’s impression and without the lawyers terms and costs. I think none of the questions can be answered.  However you know the influence in Brussels better than David, Boris and Theresa. You know them as people over time you have served in Brussels. What can you do over above the Westminster politicians to ensure that Brexit is smooth? Smooth in terms of immigration, trade, law and Human Rights? It’s difficult for us because we have to suffer and worry about the uncertainty.

Well Winnie, you’re absolutely right to say that we are treading new ground and that we are having to do our own plan, or map, as we as we go along. I think we can be optimistic and and as you asked what my role is here. I know people in the British Government. I speak to ministers about the negotiations. I also speak to people here in Brussels. I speak to Michel Barnier. I speak to the Commissioners. I meet regularly with Ministers and Prime Ministers who pop by the European Parliament to come see me and what’s really important at the end of day is that we have a mutually beneficial relationship. However, both sides will have to play for the domestic audiences. I understand that that’s part of politics and both sides at the start of negotiations will want to be tough. So one side will put up a position paper and the other side saying oh that’s rubbish and that it is nonsense. That’s all part of negotiations but behind the scenes they will get down to the technical detail. One of the things that the UK government is asked at the moment, is that the EU has come up with some papers and the UK government actually asking questions. Saying: ‘hold on a minute why have you asked for this? For example, ‘why are you insisting that EU citizens in the UK are given more rights than UK citizens in the UK is that really fair? What’s your justification for all this?‘

Now it’s sad that the main opposition party in the UK has said that they actually support giving EU citizens in in the UK more rights than UK citizens in the UK. However, it just shows what sort of pressure both sides are under. I’ll continue to work with both sides. I’ll continue to meet with government ministers. I’ll continue to meet with ministers and Prime Ministers from other EU countries as well as Commission officials or others to try and smooth over and also reduce any of the misunderstandings if they read something the British papers that’s maybe been blown out of a proportion by one side of the other. I will try and smooth that over and maybe explain but at the other side of the article.

We have a question from Shafiq: the EU is insisting that we pay them this massive divorce payment but the assets that they own come from our contribution. This never gets mentioned surely we must own a big share?

That’s right! It’s quite right we do own a share. In fact in reality we have shares in a number of buildings and institutions right here and a bit of the European own stock. So it’s not as simple as people are saying especially some of the more intransigent people started saying that actually we should pay up and walk away. At the end of the day, as you rightly say, we have some assets here and that’s part of the negotiations and when I mentioned that to people they said of course we understand that, that’s all part of negotiations. That will have to be considered but we’ll be pointing that out calmly and with determination and we’ll make sure that at the end of the day that we try and come to an agreement that both sides are happy with.

Nicholas Morris asks:  I’m from Trinidad and support Brexit. It will allow more trade between the UK and Commonwealth Caribbean. Do you think it’s possible?

Well I very much hope! My parents are Guyanese and I have a father-in-law who is from Mauritius. My ancestors are from the Indian subcontinent. I’m very much a fan of the Commonwealth and I think it’s shocking that over the last forty years how we much we’ve neglected our very strong links with the Commonwealth. This is not what some the opponents of Brexit make it out to be i.e. going back to Imperial days. This is an equal relationship with Commonwealth countries. This is not Britain as the old imperial Master. This is us as friends and trading partners and let’s not forget some these countries, these dynamic countries in the Commonwealth, who have strong relationships with the UK. I’ve spoken to a number of ambassadors and ministers from Commonwealth countries and they are really happy that we are now talking about direct relationships.In addition, I’ve spoken to a number developing countries who say actually they are fed up with internal trade policies of the EU and feels that it keeps them poor because they can’t sell their goods into the EU. Let’s make sure we get as many trade deals with Commonwealth countries as much as possible and let’s make sure it’s mutually beneficial.

Leigh asks: ‘How can we retain financial clearing houses in the UK after Brexit?’ and Anu asks ‘Do Paris and Frankfurt pose a real threat to the City of London as new financial centres when Britain leaves the Europe Union?’

Leigh, first of all, clearing will continue after Brexit. The whole issue is whether Eurozone denominated instruments could continue to be cleared. What’s fascinating is that we still trade many dollar denominated instruments in the UK. The US has been quite clear about this they’re not seeking to be nationalistic about this and insist it’s all traded in New York because actually one reasons that people do a lot of clearing in the UK is because we trade a member of different currencies and we can because we trade baskets of currencies and we’ve got efficiency. They worry that if France and Germany insisted on trying to move anything in euros to the Eurozone all the infrastructure and all the new cables and wires that would involve would increase costs for some of their transactions and it would lead to more costs to the companies. That’s why they prefer to clear in the UK which has the skills but also we clear a number of different currencies. Now the French and Germans may be insistent. They may continue on this road of the euro nationalism. Insisting anything dominating in euros is cleared in the euro zone and I imagine that they continue trying to put pressure but I know there are many other people who saying to me that they,are really worried. European companies are saying to me that this will increase their financial costs because clearing in the eurozone would cost them more because they won’t have the advantages of the UK.

Warren asks: why are they not providing a costed paper on the divorce settlement figure?

(If by them you mean the EU side of negotiation). This is one of the reasons that the UK Government has actually been asking probing questions. They have been asking the EU negotiators: can you be quite clear with us just how do you justify that figure? I think it was a few months ago when the figures suddenly went up from a few billion to two hundred billion in space of a week. This is a classic negotiating technique. What you do in negotiations is you ask for more than you want and then you know it’ll be whittled down. I’ve been in Brussels for years. I’ve seen this in negotiations on European directives. You ask for far more and then you come to a compromise later.

You saw in the question there from Kevin and from others. People are talking about a fairer immigration system now that we are leaving. Do you want to see a fair immigration system where everyone outside the UK is treated equally or do you want to give preference to the EU? Do you think it’s fair that we give preference to the EU? Does it bother you that most of people from the EU happen to be white and most of people outside the EU happen to be non-White? Is that a racist immigration system or do you think it’s justified given preference to the EU? How strong do you think the UK’s negotiating position would be and how strongly do you think that the EU’s negotiating position is?

Please go to the survey www.syedkamall.co.uk/survey and answer those questions.