The doubters, the doomsters, the gloomsters– they are going to get it wrong again. The people who bet against Britain are goingto lose their shirts because we are going to restore trust in our democracy and we aregoing to fulfil the repeated promises of parliament to the people and come out of the EU on October31 no ifs or buts. And we will do a new deal, a better deal thatwill maximise the opportunities of Brexit while allowing us to develop a new and excitingpartnership with the rest of Europe based on free trade and mutual support. I have every confidence that in 99 days’time we will have cracked it. But you know what – we aren’t going towait 99 days because the British people have had enough of waiting.
The time has come to act, to take decisions,to give strong leadership and to change this country for the better and though the Queenhas just honoured me with this extraordinary office of state my job is to serve you, thepeople because if there is one point we politicians need to remember it is that the people areour bosses. My job is to make your streets safer – andwe are going to begin with another 20,000 police on the streets and we start recruitingforthwith. My job is to make sure you don’t have towait 3 weeks to see your GP and we start work this week with 20 new hospital upgrades, andensuring that money for the NHS really does get to the front line. My job is to protect you or your parents orgrandparents from the fear of having to sell your home to pay for the costs of care andso I am announcing now – on the steps of Downing Street – that we will fix the crisisin social care once and for all with a clear plan we have prepared to give every olderperson the dignity and security they deserve.
My job is to make sure your kids get a superbeducation wherever they are in the country and that’s why we have already announcedthat we are going to level up per-pupil funding in primary and secondary schools. And that is the work that begins immediatelybehind that black door. And though I am today building a great teamof men and women, I will take personal responsibility for the change I want to see. Never mind the backstop – the buck stopshere. And I will tell you something else about myjob. It is to be Prime Minister of the whole UnitedKingdom and that means uniting our country, answering at last the plea of the forgottenpeople and the left-behind towns by physically and literally renewing the ties that bindus together, so that with safer streets and better education and fantastic new road andrail infrastructure and full-fibre broadband we level up across Britain with higher wages,and a higher living wage, and higher productivity, we close the opportunity gap, giving millionsof young people the chance to own their own homes, and giving business the confidenceto invest across the UK.
Because it is time we unleashed the productivepower not just of London and the south east but of every corner of England, Scotland,Wales and Northern Ireland; the awesome foursome that are incarnated in that red white andblue flag who together are so much more than the sum of their parts and whose brand andpolitical personality is admired and even loved around the world for our inventiveness,for our humour, for our universities, our scientists, our armed forces, our diplomacyfor the equalities on which we insist – whether race or gender or LGBT or the right of everygirl in the world to 12 years of quality education and for the values we stand for around theworld.
Everyone knows the values that flag represents. It stands for freedom and free speech andhabeas corpus and the rule of law and above all it stands for democracy. And that is why we will come out of the EUon October 31 because in the end Brexit was a fundamental decision by the British people,that they wanted their laws made by people that they can elect and they can remove fromoffice and we must now respect that decision and create a new partnership with our Europeanfriends – as warm and as close and as affectionate as possible. And the first step is to repeat unequivocallyour guarantee to the 3.2 million EU nationals now living and working among us and I saydirectly to you – thank you for your contribution to our society, thank you for your patienceand I can assure you that under this government you will get the absolute certainty of therights to live and remain.
And next I say to our friends in Ireland,and in Brussels and around the EU: I am convinced that we can do a deal without checks at theIrish border, because we refuse under any circumstances to have such checks, and yetwithout that anti-democratic backstop and it is of course vital at the same time thatwe prepare for the remote possibility that Brussels refuses any further to negotiateand we are forced to come out with no deal not because we want that outcome, of coursenot, but because it is only common sense to prepare. And let me stress that there is a vital sensein which those preparations cannot be wasted and that is because under any circumstanceswe will need to get ready at some point in the near future to come out of the EU customsunion and out of regulatory control fully determined at last to take advantage of Brexitbecause that is the course on which this country is now set with high hearts and growing confidencewe will now accelerate the work of getting ready.
And the ports will be ready and the bankswill be ready and the factories will be ready and business will be ready and the hospitalswill be ready and our amazing food and farming sector will be ready and waiting to continueselling ever more not just here but around the world. And don’t forget that in the event of ano deal outcome we will have the extra lubrication of the 39 billion pounds and whatever dealwe do we will prepare this autumn for an economic package to boost British business and to lengthenthis country’s lead as the number one destination in this continent for overseas investment. And to all those who continue to prophesydisaster I say yes – there will be difficulties, though I believe that with energy and applicationthey will be far less serious than some have claimed. But if there is one thing that has reallysapped the confidence of business over the last three years it is not the decisions wehave taken, it is our refusal to take decisions.
And to all those who say we cannot be ready,I say do not underestimate this country. Do not underestimate our powers of organisationand our determination because we know the enormous strengths of this economy in lifesciences, in tech, in academia, in music, the arts, culture, financial services. It is here in Britain that we are using genetherapy, for the first time, to treat the most common form of blindness, here in Britainthat we are leading the world in the battery technology that will help cut CO2 and tackleclimate change and produce green jobs for the next generation.
And as we prepare for a post-Brexit futureit is time we looked not at the risks but at the opportunities that are upon us. So let us begin work now to create freeportsthat will drive growth and thousands of high-skilled jobs in left behind areas, let’s start nowto liberate the UK’s extraordinary bioscience sector from anti genetic modification rulesand let’s develop the blight-resistant crops that will feed the world. Let’s get going now on our own positionnavigation and timing satellite and earth observation systems – UK assets orbitingin space with all the long term strategic and commercial benefits for this country.
Let’s change the tax rules to provide extraincentives to invest in capital and research and let’s promote the welfare of animalsthat has always been so close to the hearts of the British people and yes, let’s startnow on those free trade deals because it is free trade that has done more than anythingelse to lift billions out of poverty. All this and more we can do now and only now,at this extraordinary moment in our history and after three years of unfounded self-doubtit is time to change the record, to recover our natural and historic role as an enterprising,outward-looking and truly global Britain, generous in temper and engaged with the world. No one in the last few centuries has succeededin betting against the pluck and nerve and ambition of this country. They will not succeed today. We in this government will work flat out togive this country the leadership it deserve and that work begins now. Thank you very much.”
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