Click here for the complete version of the launch paper.
Executive Summary
• The Centre for Brexit Policy is a new think tank backed by cross-party politicians and veterans of the national Brexit debate. It has been formed to propose the critical policy changes enabled by Brexit that will boost national prosperity and well-being in years to come, as well as help ensure that Britain fully ‘takes back control’ when it leaves the European Union.
• The CBP aspires to trigger a deep and wide debate about what Brexit should mean for the UK over the next decade or two. By providing a focus for the development of post-Brexit public policy, the CBP hopes to help formulate an overarching framework for the UK that maximises the opportunities Brexit affords.
• Thus, the CBP will aim to perform a role similar to that played by the Centre for Policy Studies when it helped pioneer the controversial reforms of the British economy implemented by Margaret Thatcher’s government of the 1980s.
• Former Cabinet minister Owen Paterson will chair the CBP, backed by a cross-party team of directors including Labour MP Graham Stringer, DUP MP Sammy Wilson and former Brexit Party MEP Matthew Patten. John Longworth, former Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce, will be responsible for day-to-day management jointly with Senior Adviser Edgar Miller, also Convener of Economists for Free Trade.
• CBP plans to appoint a broad supporting cadre of expert CBP Fellows drawn from multiple disciplines to provide additional expertise and experience in developing an agenda for policy change that will ensure the British people benefit from Brexit. CBP Fellows already appointed include economist Roger Bootle, trade expert Michael Burrage, energy expert Dr John Constable, Professor of Oncology Angus Dalgleish, Barrister Martin Howe QC, economist Dr Ruth Lea, economist Professor Patrick Minford, financial services lawyer Barnabas Reynolds, science and environmental expert Lord Ridley, and historian Professor Robert Tombs. More appointments will be made as the CBP evolves its agenda.
• Additional support will be provided by a CBP Business Forum that will bring a business perspective to shaping CBP’s agenda, provide input to policy proposals, and deliver a pro-Brexit business voice.
• CBP already has plans to roll out a number of policy papers this year; but with the coronavirus crisis eclipsing all other policy matters and triggering unprecedented help by government for beleaguered British firms, CBP will concentrate initially on how coronavirus will affect our exit from the EU and how the UK can best position itself in the Brexit negotiations.
• A constant theme of the CBP will be showing how global free trade should be employed to support the Consumer rather than aiding protectionist producers. In the longer-term, the CBP will address such areas as deregulation, tax reform, national productivity, rebalancing government spending, and energy policy. In parallel, the CBP expects to support ministers as they pursue a Canada-style free trade deal with Brussels and negotiate a future relationship that restores Britain’s status as a sovereign, self-governing, independent nation.
Click here for the complete version of the launch paper.