Investing.com - UK Secretary of State for Brexit David Davis called for continued participation between the UK and the European Union following the UK’s departure from the EU in March next year.
At a meeting in Vienna, Davis delivered the third in a series of six speeches from UK cabinet ministers, dubbed the ‘road to Brexit’, which are aimed at clarifying the government’s position on the UK’s future relationship with the EU.
The Prime Minister’s office has described the speeches as a ‘rallying cry to those on both sides of the Brexit debate’.
During the speech, Davis assured critics on both sides of the channel that leaving the EU would not mean undercutting the EU by ripping up its regulations and slashing taxes. He stated that his vision for the future relationship of the UK and the EU would be one of ‘respectful partners and not suspicious competitors.’ He called for the need for a mutual recognition of standards, which would ensure that the EU and the UK remain close trading partners.
Mutual recognition, as he viewed it, would be achieved through the pursuit of quality and in driving new standards in a changing economy during the ‘next phase of globalisation’.
The speech showed Davis, previously viewed as a bastion for a harder Brexit, to be a proponent of a more amicable divorce. In pursuing close alignment with the EU after Brexit, Davis stated that he hoped the UK would be entitled to the same mutual recognition of quality standards as Canada and South Korea..
Davis stressed that the UK had no intention to undermine the EU and spoke out against critics of the divorce. In ruling out a ‘Mad Max’ post-Brexit Britain, Davis said: ‘With Britain plunged into a Mad Max-style world borrowed from dystopian fiction. These fears about a race to the bottom are based on nothing, not history, not intention, nor interest.'
In response to fears that Brexit implied the UK was entering into a ‘race to the bottom’, Davis stated that throughout history Britain had been at the forefront of quality and safety standards and that in maintaining the same level of quality post-Brexit, the UK would ‘lead a global race to the top.’.
Davis said Brexit would not undermine or weaken workers’ rights, financial regulations or jeopardize the environment.
The cabinet, seen as divided on their post-Brexit vision, have scheduled an ‘away day’ from Parliament on Thursday in a bid to once and for all unite their Brexit position.