Swindon’s key industries will be protected after Brexit takes effect, MP Robert Buckland has told Swindon Business News - but he warned that everyone involved in the debate needed to ‘calm down’ to ensure an orderly exit from the European Union.
Speaking at a ‘Business of Brexit’ breakfast at regional law firm Thrings’ Swindon office this morning, the MP, pictured, – who is also the government’s Solicitor General – said yesterday’s landmark High Court case would not derail the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. 
He welcomed the government’s recent deal with Japanese car maker Nissan, which persuaded it to build two new models in the UK, saying it was good for the entire automotive industry – including Honda’s Swindon plant, the town’s largest private sector employer.
“I’m optimistic about Swindon’s economy and the UK economy. We are going to make this work,” he said.
But he branded talk about a ‘hard’ or ‘soft’ Brexit – and many of today’s headlines concerning the High Court decision – as “unhelpful”.
“It’s important that everybody in political circles calms down,” he said. “What we are talking about here is only one aspect of the process of withdrawal.
“This judgment wasn’t about the referendum. It was about how the button is to be pressed to trigger Article 50 (which starts the UK’s withdrawal from the EU).”
He said he believed, if it went to a vote, that the Commons would back Brexit. He was not as confident the House of Lords would do the same. “What we don’t need is 'the people versus the peers' like a century ago – that didn’t end too well for the Lords,” he said, referring to the 1911 Parliament Act, which weakened the power of the Upper House.
The South Swindon MP, who campaigned for the UK to remain in the EU, said it was right that the government did not provide a “running commentary” on withdrawal negotiations with the EU.
He also said he was happy that the “brightest and best” civil servants had been recruited into the government department handling withdrawal, which he described as the “biggest civil service project short of going to war”.
He called for discussions over Brexit to be conducted in more measured tones. “Let’s not descend into crude characteristics of hard or soft Brexits,” he said. “This will not be binary or black and white but multifaceted.”
Speaking to Swindon Business News after the event, Mr Buckland said he would do everything in his power to protect the town’s businesses post-Brexit.
“I’ll do whatever it takes,” he said. “The Nissan announcement was very welcome but I want all Swindon’s important industries – be they life sciences or financial services or any others – to be given similar assurances.
“It was a crucial decision by Honda last year to invest in Swindon for their new model and to make [the South Marston plant] a centre for worldwide exports. It was done ahead of Brexit but it fitted in with the lifecycle of their products.
“Following [Business Secretary] Greg Clark’s talks with Nissan, the whole of the motor industry can feel protected.”
The Business of Brexit breakfast also heard views on Brexit from Thrings partners Kate Westbrook, Graeme Fearon and Kerrie Hunt, and James Monk, director of commercial services at Business West – the regional business organisation that runs the Swindon & Wiltshire Initiative.
A full report on the breakfast will appear on Swindon Business News next week.
