17 reasons to love Brexit

‘But what are you going to do with the powers?’ the minister asked, while I negotiated devolution of powers to London when Boris was mayor. The government wouldn’t grant powers unless we explained how we would use them.

And that is what is missing in the Brexit non-debate. We are ‘taking back control’ — but we haven’t really thought what we will do with that control once we have it. It is true there has been discussion of trade deals, transforming the Common Agricultural Policy and the colour of our passports. But if that was all we could do, even most Brexiteers wouldn’t have considered it worth it.

So, what could we do once we Brexit? Well actually, given how extensive EU law is, an awful lot. Some will depend on the deal we have with the EU. Some are things we could do but wouldn’t want to do. But there are also lots of popular things the government could do.

In 1997, Tony Blair campaigned to scrap VAT on domestic gas and electricity. But because of the EU, he had to settle for 5 per cent. Once we leave the EU, the government could do what Blair couldn’t. Fuel poverty campaigners, take note.

Tories and Labour have wanted to scrap the hated ‘tampon tax’ — VAT on tampons. But what is impossible inside the EU becomes possible outside. Women campaigners, take note. In fact, the government could scrap the hideously complex VAT system — a job creation scheme for accountants we had to bring in when we joined the EU — altogether, and go back to the simple purchase tax we had before.

In the 1990s, there were endless protests along the coast against exporting live lambs and calves for slaughter in Europe.