Sophy Ridge on Sunday Interview with Anna Soubry, Conservative MP, 11.06.17

ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO SOPHY RIDGE ON SUNDAY, SKY NEWS

SOPHY RIDGE: In the space of three days Theresa May has gone from the unquestionable figurehead of the Conservative party set for five years of steady rule to a lonely Prime Minister, isolated in Number 10 and just about kept afloat by an angry party and perhaps there are few angrier within that party than Anna Soubry who joins us now from Nottingham. Hello and thank you for being with us.

ANNA SOUBRY: I don't think I’m angry actually.

SR: How are you feeling then? Describe your feelings for us.

ANNA SOUBRY: Well obviously when those results came in on Friday there was a sense of real concern and a bit of anger there because some very good colleagues have gone and it just seems such a terrible, terrible shame. We are where we are and now we have got to have some stability in our government and people have got to get behind the government and Theresa has got to broaden her base and she’s got to listen to people and especially she has got to listen to business and all parts of our country and all parts of our party as well.

SR: Some people she may have to listen to are the DUP if they are effectively going to prop up the Conservatives and give them that magic number needed to get a majority. How do you feel about the idea of the Conservative party going into agreement with another party who are against abortion and against same-sex marriage?

ANNA SOUBRY: I missed the last bit of your question but I get your drift Sophie. Look, let me make it very clear, I have friends in the DUP, I get on well with them, I don’t agree with their policies on abortion or gay rights at all, in fact I absolutely detest those policies but I think we can come together for the national good, looking especially at the economy. There is nothing wrong with doing that because at the end of the day the national interest must be the primary interest and we need now to consider all those things and we need to put stability, especially as we enter these Brexit negotiations and if the DUP are prepared to vote for a Queen’s Speech that is a sensible Queen’s Speech and a good budget, I don’t have a difficulty with that. I don’t have to sign up to all their other stuff which I don’t agree with at all.

SR: Even with the DUP, Theresa May will only have a handful of MPs, a couple of MPs as a majority and all it would take for example is for you and Ken Clarke to go out for lunch together and suddenly she is going to have to make compromises on Brexit to get it through the House of Commons. Do you think she has got a majority for leaving the single market in the House of Commons now?

ANNA SOUBRY: I’m so sorry, you just cut out.

SR: I was saying do you think Theresa May has a majority in parliament for leaving the single market?

ANNA SOUBRY: No, I don't think she have a majority in the House of Commons for leaving the single market but actually what’s more important, I don't think people out here in the real world actually want the hard Brexit that had been put forward and I don't think they liked this ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’. People want a good deal and that may include membership of the single market, it certainly will include membership of the customs union and of course this will solve so many of the problems, notably actually in Northern Ireland. You see membership of the single market, membership of the customs union actually solves those really serious problems over the border and it’s what British business wants as well. They do not want this hard Brexit and you see if Theresa starts to listen to people and if she starts to work with people and embrace people in then I believe we can get the Brexit deal that is in the interests of everybody in our country and especially that younger generation who I think have voted in this election and made their own views very clear.

SR: Now you have had a couple of days to reflect on it, just how bad were those election results for your party and do you think Theresa May can realistically carry on?

ANNA SOUBRY: Well I think her position in the long term is untenable and it is with regret, I was one of the first people to come out and support Theresa but the election result where she put her name on the campaign, I just can’t see how she can continue with any long term way, I think she will have to go unfortunately but not for some time, let’s get this clear. We need stability, we need to put that sense of the economy, our country and the nation’s interests absolutely at the forefront, none of this messing about behind the scenes. She has got to open up as I say, be more consensual in the way that she operates, listen to people like Philip Hammond and Greg Clarke who represent business so well in the Cabinet and if she does those things she can lay down the way for her to lead and then we can have a new Prime Minister. Actually the last thing we want now is a general election, I think the British people would be appalled at that prospect and indeed, can I make it very clear, I am not for one moment saying that we are going back on the EU referendum result. My sense, certainly in my constituency which voted 48/49% to remain in the EU, people have accepted the result like I have and they now want us to get a good Brexit deal, they accept we are leaving the EU. That’s not a hard Brexit, they have rejected that.

SR: So you say that Theresa May will have to go at some stage, who do you think could potentially step in? There’s a lot of talk about Boris Johnson in the papers today.

ANNA SOUBRY: I am absolutely not answering that question, I’m not playing that game of speculating. I know it’s great fun for the commentators and of course you are right to ask the question but I’m afraid I’m not playing that game at all. I am afraid the situation we are in is far more serious than us all having a bit of fun about whether it’s this candidate or that candidate. At the moment it is Theresa May and we need to get that stability and we need to do the right thing for our country.

SR: How disappointing but I am not perhaps totally surprised by the answer you just gave. You say you don’t want an election and I can see why you don’t want an election, because you just lost your majority last time round. What’s going wrong with the Conservative party and how does the party need to change in order to win?

ANNA SOUBRY: I mean it’s hugely complicated what’s happened. Remember in my constituency yes, my majority went down and I am no different from many people who actually lost their seats and actually put on votes. We know that we got more votes in the bag but we didn’t win the seats and we set out to win a large number of Labour seats, to persuade people that voted Labour before to vote Conservative. What happened, and this is a dreadful thing to have to say but it’s true, most people were sitting on the edge if you like. They were prepared to vote Conservative but they needed a reason to vote Conservative, the choice needed to be well crafted for them and they needed then to take that step and actually vote Conservative. They needed if you like a carrot, something to persuade them that our great public services would be enhanced under a Conservative government, our economy would be strong and safe and of course there would be real hope for the future for young people. We didn’t do those things, actually what we did is hand Labour sticks who actually started to beat people with those sticks and rather than them actually voting Conservative, they went back and they voted Labour and young people in particular voted Labour.

SR: I am going to have to cut you off there, thank you very much, Anna Soubry, for your thoughts.