Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Iain Duncan Smith: the UK should ‘have it all’

Iain Duncan Smith was strangely vague this morning when Andrew Marr asked him whether he thought Britain could survive outside the European Union. He said:

‘I’m an optimist about the UK. I’ve always been involved with our trade with our European partners which we will always be doing whatever this relationship is, and the Prime minister will talk about that in the future… We’re a member of the European Union, that gives us benefits but we have to figure out where that’s going. But in the world we are a global trader already, we’re more of a global trader than any other country in Europe. So I hate this argument that says, you know little Britain outside, or… We can both be within our trading relationships within Europe, we can also be a fantastic global trader.’

All eyes were on the Work and Pensions Secretary after reports in the Mail on Sunday this morning that a Cabinet minister had considered resigning to join Wednesday’s rebellion on the EU budget. But he made clear that he supported the Prime Minister, saying ‘I think he would love to come back with a real terms cut’, adding that ‘we don’t give enough credit to him’ for his veto last winter.

Pressed by Marr on whether he believed that Britain would flourish if it did leave the EU, Duncan Smith said:

‘My view isn’t that we could do necessarily outside the EU better than we do in inside it, it’s that we can do it all, I don’t see why we shouldn’t have it all.’

As James reports in his column today, the Prime Minister is set to give a speech setting out whether he too thinks Britain can ‘have it all’, in the words of his colleague.

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