Let’s get Brexit done on 31 October.
Let's get it done because of
the opportunities that it will bring.
Not just to take back
control of our money
and our borders and our laws,
to regulate differently and better,
to take our place as a proud
and independent global campaigner
for free trade.
Let’s get it done because delay is so
pointless and expensive and debilitating.
Let’s get it done because we
need to build
our positive new partnership
with the EU because
it cannot be stressed too much
that this is not an anti-European party.
This is not an anti-European country.
We are European.
[applause]
We love Europe.
I love Europe anyway. I love it.
But after 45 years of really dramatic
constitutional change we must
have a new relationship with the EU
– a positive and confident partnership –
and we can do it.
And today in Brussels, we are tabling
what I believe are constructive
and reasonable proposals which
provide a compromise for both sides.
We will under no circumstances
have checks at or near the border
in Northern Ireland.
[applause]
We will respect the peace process
and the Good Friday agreement.
[applause]
And by a process of renewable
democratic consent by the executive
and the assembly of Northern Ireland,
we will go further and protect
the existing regulatory arrangements
for farmers and businesses
on both sides of the border.
And at the same time we will
allow the UK, whole and entire,
to withdraw from the EU,
with control of our own trade policy
from the start.
[applause]
And we will protect our precious union
between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
[applause]
And yes this is a compromise by the UK
and I hope very much that
our friends understand that
and compromise in their turn.
Because if we fail to get an agreement
because of what is essentially
a technical discussion of the exact
nature of future customs checks
when that technology is improving
the whole time,
then let us be in no doubt conference,
of what the alternative is.
The alternative no deal and
that is not an outcome we want.
It is not an outcome we seek at all
but let me tell you, my friends,
it is an outcome for which we are ready.
[applause]
