7 quotes from Dominic Raab about Brexit

Dominic Raab, the new Brexit secretary, will today meet the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier for the first time in Brussels.

Raab was appointed following David Davis' dramatic resignation in protest to Theresa May's plans for post-Brexit trade with the EU earlier this month.

Raab, who was previously housing minister, and was part of the winning Leave campaign in the 2016 EU referendum, is expected to continue negotiations with Barnier on the issue of post-Brexit trade.

Speaking to MPs before heading to Brussels, Mr Raab said he hoped Mr Barnier would "fully support" the government's proposals for a post-Brexit trade deal, which were set out in a recent White Paper.

With less than nine months before Britain is expected to leave the EU, we've compiled his past takes on Brexit to gain some insight into how Raab might approach the looming deadline.

1. "The bridge to Brexit might be rocky and take more time than expected."

In an interview with Nick Robinson for his Political Thinking podcast at the end fo last week, Raab accepted that the Brexit transition might have to be extended as long as "in the end we get there".

2. "People voted Leave so the UK can write its own laws."

In the same op-ed, he declared that "the top reason people voted Leave is so MPs are accountable to write the laws".

Red tape will hold trade back no more, he insisted.

3. "Theresa May's post-Brexit plan puts us in the best position to get the best deal."

Raab wrote with glowing praise in The Sunabout the prime minister's optimistic post-Brexit vision delivered in Florence in September last year, calling it a "win-win".

In her speech, May said the EU shared a "profound sense of responsibility" to forge a Brexit deal with those who "inherit the world we leave them" in mind.

Raab said he agreed with May about remaining "firm friends" with the EU, and that "shared values" and "shared prosperity" will be at the heart of negotiations.

Picture: Dominic Raab was a prominent Leave campaigner.

4. "To get a result out of Brexit, the country must show we are bigger than the sum of our parts."

In June, Raab spoke about Brexit to The House magazine, outlining his ideas on how to achieve the best in the Brexit negotiations.

What we’ve got to do as a government and as a parliamentary party and indeed as a country, is show that we are bigger than the sum of our parts. If we take a bit more of that approach, a bit more unity of purpose, we’ll get a great result out of Brexit.

We’ll also unite the country.

5. "Britain must not cower in the corner during negotiations."

In the same interview, Raab also spoke of his concerns for the transition period:

One thing I get nervous about, or anxious, is that we don’t cower in a corner, so fixated on the risk that we look somehow afraid of our own shadow.

Britain is a hell of a lot better than that.

6. "The economy has proved far more resilient than naysayers suggested."

The health of the post-referendum economy has been branded as everything from 'extraordinarily resilient' to one government report's conclusion that 'the UK will be worse off in every scenario'.

Unsurprisingly, Raab's assessment appears to lean towards the former. He told the publication:

We should go into these negotiations with a bit of economic self-confidence.

The economy has held up and proved far more resilient than some of the naysayers suggested.

We should go into it with political ambition.

7. 'Negotiators must show flexibility when it comes to the final Brexit deal'.

He also told the magazine that lawmakers should be ready to compromise during the transition period, as long as manifesto promises are delivered.

I think if we’re true to our promises that we’ve made in our manifesto – and the mandate that we got from the referendum, which was to take back control over our borders, our laws and our money – I think we ought to on the Brexit side be flexible about the bridge to that end state.

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