Business-friendly domestic policies would boost our negotiating leverage

Deal or no deal, we’ll be talking to our European neighbours for years about our long term relationship. One thing is for certain; though many dismiss Britain’s chances of securing further concessions from EU negotiators as “unicorn thinking”, our chances of reaching a favourable agreement will be boosted dramatically if we are bold enough pursue a radical, pro-growth domestic agenda.

Why? Because an economically resurgent Britain is a different beast to Theresa May’s timid declinism. To put us on the right footing, Britain’s next Prime Minister and Chancellor should reinvigorate the economy by immediately slashing taxes and cutting red tape. Business-friendly policies attracting talent and investment from the continent would improve our negotiating leverage and ramp up the pressure on EU negotiators to open trade talks.

The current mood in Brussels favours centralised taxation and further red tape - adding to an often hostile business environment across Europe. If Britain were to reject this approach we could attract continental investment and talent. Already, French entrepreneurs and professionals have countered Hollande’s punitive tax rates by booking one-way Eurostar tickets to London in their droves. Many more could follow in their footsteps.

May’s premiership has disappointed, not just on the Brexit front, but in domestic areas too. Cameron and Osborne reined in public spending, reformed education and benefits, and cut taxes. May and Hammond, in contrast, have adopted a ‘Labour-lite’ approach, both in rhetoric, through their outright rejection of free market policies - and in action, by allowing taxes to increase to the highest levels in a generation and adopting statist policies like Ed Miliband’s energy price cap.