1. A thread not about why leaving the EU is a bad idea. We’ve made that argument and we haven’t changed our minds, but we lost. It’s happening. So instead, a few reflections on this moment for those who will be mourning and celebrating in almost equal measure tonight.
2. Britain was always a pragmatic rather than an ideological EU member state. We joined late and left early, but we will still be Europeans.
3. Our friends, neighbours and trading partners across the English Channel will still be our friends, neighbours and trading partners and that’s why we need to negotiate a close economic relationship for the years ahead.
4. This will be the most important priority over the next 11 months because all of us, especially businesses, will need to know what future we should plan for.
5. Britain is a great country and national pride is something that we can celebrate together. But that is different from a nationalism which divides - us versus them. So let us embrace our interdependence as human beings who share a small and fragile planet.
6. There has been so much debate about sovereignty, but it’s how we use it that matters. We never ceased to be a sovereign country, as the influence we had as a member state and the fact that we are now leaving both show.
7. For 47 years we chose to exercise our sovereignty in cooperation with other European countries and the need to do that will not disappear tomorrow. So let us find ways of counteracting the loss of influence that is one of the consequence of leaving.
8. Think about the great challenges we face as a world. Tackling climate change. Trying to contain threats to peace and security. Deciding the rules of international trade. Dealing with the movement of human beings across the globe or new disease outbreaks.
9. How can we best deal with all of these things? By working with others as we build alliances and promote our values.
10. And the EU’s future? It will evolve and we should wish it well. After all it has succeeded in doing something extraordinary in preventing a return to the conflicts of the past that claimed the lives of generations of young Europeans, including so many of our own citizens.
11. A final thought. Those of us who mourn tonight were often wrongly said to be pessimists about about our country’s future. I think the contrary is true for it is when we are confident about ourselves that we are able to reach out and engage with others.
12. And in that same spirit, however we feel tonight, that is what we must now together do.
