Browse content similar to 31/01/2017. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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apparent with the passage of time, the national interest is that we | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
should work together to get the best possible outcome for our country. As | :00:00. | :00:12. | |
ever, a makes cogent points, I completely agree with him that the | :00:13. | :00:18. | |
government must lay out a process where the government begins to have | :00:19. | :00:23. | |
a say on this process and a final deal. | :00:24. | :00:34. | |
I do not believe we will be reversing this decision but I will | :00:35. | :00:40. | |
not be supporting it. Not because I do not recognise the result of the | :00:41. | :00:43. | |
referendum but I cannot walk blindly through a lobby to give a trigger to | :00:44. | :00:49. | |
a process without a shred of detail from the government. There has been | :00:50. | :00:53. | |
much talk of the Prime Minister's speech. Maybe not in this House but | :00:54. | :00:58. | |
elsewhere. No White Paper, no detail and after seven months, it is really | :00:59. | :01:04. | |
shocking that the government can come to this House and say so little | :01:05. | :01:09. | |
today. There is still no real guarantee a parliamentary oversight. | :01:10. | :01:13. | |
While there was a vote to leave, there is a lot of detail below that | :01:14. | :01:18. | |
simple decision that this House has a constitutional role in delivering. | :01:19. | :01:24. | |
There is no certainty for business as we stand here now, many are | :01:25. | :01:30. | |
concerned about their future. Not a word of sucker for -- circle for EU | :01:31. | :01:39. | |
residents, and no answer on the many regulations that will need to be | :01:40. | :01:43. | |
transposed into our law will take place. I suspect we will seek an | :01:44. | :01:49. | |
explosion at speed of line goes from the same government that wanted the | :01:50. | :01:54. | |
bonfire of the quangos. I want to my focus on EU citizens in the UK. In | :01:55. | :02:01. | |
my constituency, at the last census in 2011. 10% of my constituents were | :02:02. | :02:07. | |
born in other EU countries. 27,000 across the borough of Hackney as a | :02:08. | :02:11. | |
whole. It is a similar percentage across London as a whole. 841,000 | :02:12. | :02:16. | |
people born in other EU countries. If we look at student numbers, | :02:17. | :02:24. | |
31,000 students from the EU were accept it in 2016. Up 22% from 2010. | :02:25. | :02:31. | |
A significant bunch of people contributing to our economy. If you | :02:32. | :02:35. | |
look at our public services, we cannot get figures for everywhere | :02:36. | :02:40. | |
but in the health service, 5% of NHS staff are from other EU member | :02:41. | :02:53. | |
states. But staff joining in 2015, 16, it is 27%. That is up from | :02:54. | :02:59. | |
really 7% in 2012-13. This demonstrates a big gap in our skills | :03:00. | :03:04. | |
and the skills and talents we need in this country to fill those jobs. | :03:05. | :03:08. | |
If you look at the technology sector, in Shoreditch, we have a | :03:09. | :03:21. | |
burgeoning technology sector. There are already many issues in this | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
sector with visas because it is such an emerging industry that there are | :03:27. | :03:30. | |
often jobs that don't have titles that don't exist in official terms. | :03:31. | :03:37. | |
Cutting off the stream overnight of EU citizens overnight who may be | :03:38. | :03:40. | |
asked to leave this country is a real issue. Overall, 3 million EU | :03:41. | :03:45. | |
citizens currently living and working in the UK. These people pay | :03:46. | :03:51. | |
more in tax than they withdraw in benefits and contribute at least ?2 | :03:52. | :03:55. | |
billion annually to the economy. A recent poll issued today showed a | :03:56. | :04:01. | |
majority of UK residents, citizens, believe that EU citizens rights | :04:02. | :04:06. | |
should be guaranteed with 58% agreeing to that position. 28 | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
disagreeing and 14% don't know. My honourable friend from the front | :04:12. | :04:16. | |
bench talked about the human misery. I have had people ringing my office | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
in tears worried about their future. When I am talking to constituents, | :04:22. | :04:24. | |
they can't hold back their emotions for they are fearful for what it | :04:25. | :04:29. | |
means. A woman wrote to me recently, Dutch with a British partner and | :04:30. | :04:32. | |
British children, 20 years in this country but not knowing her future. | :04:33. | :04:37. | |
Another woman, freelance, worried that because she is freelance, that | :04:38. | :04:41. | |
she will not be allowed to stay in the UK. Change to this does not | :04:42. | :04:45. | |
require an amendment to this bill, it is something the government could | :04:46. | :04:49. | |
agree with straightaway. We should be wary on turning on followers -- | :04:50. | :04:56. | |
foreigners in our midst. We should allow the citizens to stay and | :04:57. | :04:59. | |
continue to contribute to our country and set in train the process | :05:00. | :05:04. | |
they need to do that. If we do not do that, we should look closely at | :05:05. | :05:09. | |
what our tolerance is in this country. She is making a very | :05:10. | :05:13. | |
powerful point and I think it is tantamount to torture to not tell | :05:14. | :05:18. | |
people who are from the EU living and working here that they cannot | :05:19. | :05:22. | |
stay as it is for British people weaving and working in the European | :05:23. | :05:25. | |
Union. Does she not believe that both sides ought to get together as | :05:26. | :05:29. | |
quickly as possible and put people out of their misery and tell them | :05:30. | :05:32. | |
they are allowed to stay, live and work in the countries where they | :05:33. | :05:37. | |
currently are? Mr Speaker, I agree with that position and I think the | :05:38. | :05:42. | |
government could make a unilateral declaration. They are friends, | :05:43. | :05:46. | |
neighbours, they work in the public services and they are contributing | :05:47. | :05:50. | |
to our economy. People exercising their treaty rights today should be | :05:51. | :05:53. | |
allowed to stay. They have made their lives here with every | :05:54. | :05:57. | |
expectation it would be a permanent position. It would be magnanimous of | :05:58. | :06:05. | |
the government to give way now. Thank you Mr Speaker. In my opinion, | :06:06. | :06:11. | |
the people have decided and I am going to vote accordingly. | :06:12. | :06:21. | |
Well Mr Speaker, I thought I had and myself a reputation for brevity but | :06:22. | :06:29. | |
I think I have just been resolutely beaten to this. Congratulations. You | :06:30. | :06:40. | |
can sit down now? Tempting as an invitation it may be I will not take | :06:41. | :06:44. | |
it up. I think this is an historic debate, not just because of what we | :06:45. | :06:50. | |
as members of Parliament will do. But historic because of what the | :06:51. | :06:54. | |
people did on the 23rd of June and they have now given us the task to | :06:55. | :07:01. | |
implement that decision. To avoid any argument over the position of | :07:02. | :07:05. | |
figures, let's just say the bill is fewer than 150,000 words. And we are | :07:06. | :07:16. | |
now charged to say the people voted for us to leave. There were | :07:17. | :07:21. | |
principles behind that. The first one is, parliamentary sovereignty | :07:22. | :07:24. | |
does not mean to be sovereign over the people. It is a relationship | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
between the sovereign and Parliament. In a parliamentary | :07:30. | :07:32. | |
democracy where we used to be representatives, we decide to have a | :07:33. | :07:38. | |
direct mandate then it is our duty to implement that direct mandate. I | :07:39. | :07:41. | |
would not attend for one moment that it is easy but it is our challenge. | :07:42. | :07:51. | |
The second one is that we had a 70 point -- 70 2.2% turnout. It is true | :07:52. | :07:59. | |
that 16.1 -- just over 16 million voted to remain, more people voted | :08:00. | :08:04. | |
to leave and it is now duty to do two things. Implement the decision | :08:05. | :08:08. | |
of the majority and immediately after that focus on representing the | :08:09. | :08:13. | |
people as a whole. I chaired the official leave campaign and what can | :08:14. | :08:21. | |
be said, what the campaign was clear about what is that it was about | :08:22. | :08:26. | |
taking back control of our borders. That meant we wanted an immigration | :08:27. | :08:31. | |
policy not based on geography but on skills and economic need. We wanted | :08:32. | :08:36. | |
to take back control of our laws and control of our trade negotiations. I | :08:37. | :08:41. | |
also happened to think that the election pledge was made that the | :08:42. | :08:45. | |
least ?100 million per week that we saved by not making direct | :08:46. | :08:48. | |
contributions to the EU should go to the NHS is something the government | :08:49. | :08:53. | |
should actually honour. The NHS is short of money. That takes me to | :08:54. | :08:58. | |
Article 50 and this is where history is important. I was the draughtsman | :08:59. | :09:05. | |
of the original article that led to Article 50 as part of the European | :09:06. | :09:13. | |
constitution. It said any country could be asked to leave within two | :09:14. | :09:18. | |
years. The nature of the European Union, everything on the drawing | :09:19. | :09:22. | |
board is never allowed to go away. It became a leaving close, hence the | :09:23. | :09:27. | |
two years. But no one seriously thought through how it should be | :09:28. | :09:30. | |
implemented. Hence the challenge for us is to do that which was an | :09:31. | :09:38. | |
imagined. All current judges have been for countries to increasingly | :09:39. | :09:42. | |
entered the European Union, not leaving. We are leaving. One of the | :09:43. | :09:46. | |
reasons the United Kingdom is in a unique position, numerous speakers | :09:47. | :09:51. | |
have talked about nationalism. The British Isles, George the first | :09:52. | :09:59. | |
developed the concept of super nationalism. Someone like me, who | :10:00. | :10:02. | |
was born in Munich can with great comfort say I am British but I will | :10:03. | :10:09. | |
never be English. Hence that need to overcome the darker side of | :10:10. | :10:12. | |
nationalism by super nationalism is something the British people have | :10:13. | :10:22. | |
never felt. At the same time, we have not mentioned one thing that | :10:23. | :10:25. | |
made the whole European Union debate different. We had various people | :10:26. | :10:31. | |
reliving their youth but when the euro was introduced, the whole | :10:32. | :10:36. | |
dynamics of the European Union and its relationship to those countries | :10:37. | :10:42. | |
changed. I regard the outcome of this referendum is a logical | :10:43. | :10:47. | |
conclusion of Maastricht. We said we would not join the single currency | :10:48. | :10:54. | |
and we said we would not join the Schengen treaty. I now chair | :10:55. | :11:00. | |
something called change Britain which we set up after the referendum | :11:01. | :11:05. | |
because the important thing now, irrespective of how you voted, we | :11:06. | :11:08. | |
need to bring people together. Another principles we have been | :11:09. | :11:14. | |
working on, of them, and I welcome what the government has said from | :11:15. | :11:18. | |
the front bench, is to enshrine workers' rights. I think it is | :11:19. | :11:22. | |
equally important to enshrine environmental rights and make sure | :11:23. | :11:26. | |
communities are protected. It is extremely important for us on the | :11:27. | :11:30. | |
Labour side to realise that we now have the fight to defend those | :11:31. | :11:34. | |
Labour heartlands. Which of never recovered from the 1980s. It is | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
extremely important to protect the rights of EU citizens. 2.8 million | :11:40. | :11:45. | |
of them head, something like 1.8 have already established their right | :11:46. | :11:48. | |
to be here. It is the one to have been here for fewer than five years | :11:49. | :11:50. | |
who we really have to protect. At the moment the only obstacle to | :11:51. | :12:02. | |
guaranteeing reciprocal rights is our European partners have insisted | :12:03. | :12:10. | |
on no negotiation. There is a rational case for what the | :12:11. | :12:14. | |
honourable gentleman says. But I think this is the one area where | :12:15. | :12:18. | |
unilateral decisions on our part would set the tone for negotiations | :12:19. | :12:23. | |
which would serve EU citizens and UK citizens living in the European | :12:24. | :12:30. | |
Union. I'd take a different view from people who think that trade | :12:31. | :12:38. | |
should be above... The honourable lady is waiting for a moment of | :12:39. | :12:46. | |
silence. I take a different view. I do not think that it is economic | :12:47. | :12:50. | |
success and peas which delivers you liberal democracies. I will not | :12:51. | :12:56. | |
trade liberal democratic structures for anything else. I think it is | :12:57. | :13:03. | |
liberal democratic structures which deliver economic success and peas | :13:04. | :13:09. | |
and therefore I think a new, modern 21st-century, economic, liberal | :13:10. | :13:12. | |
democratic structure would give us that democracy and peas and that is | :13:13. | :13:18. | |
why I hope everyone in this house will vote for triggering Article 50. | :13:19. | :13:23. | |
Can I begin by paying tribute to the member for Birmingham. As one of the | :13:24. | :13:34. | |
founding MPs for vote lead she played a great role in getting the | :13:35. | :13:38. | |
vote to leave in the referendum and it was a brave thing to do. My | :13:39. | :13:46. | |
neighbour for decades has been reviled and mocked for his views, | :13:47. | :13:51. | |
but not withstanding he has kept his ducks in a row and today must be | :13:52. | :13:55. | |
very proud day for him. I would like to take those who intend to vote | :13:56. | :14:01. | |
tomorrow against the motion to remind them this is a result of a | :14:02. | :14:06. | |
very clearly marked out process. David Cameron made it clear | :14:07. | :14:11. | |
commitment in his Bloomberg speech that if the Conservatives won the | :14:12. | :14:15. | |
election, there would be a referendum. It was a manifesto | :14:16. | :14:18. | |
commitment and we did win the referendum. There was then a | :14:19. | :14:22. | |
referendum bill put through this house by a massive majority of 491. | :14:23. | :14:30. | |
544-53. And then we had the referendum. I have the hugest | :14:31. | :14:37. | |
admiration for my honourable and learning friend for Rushcliffe, I do | :14:38. | :14:41. | |
think he is unwise to have said the referendum was just an opinion poll. | :14:42. | :14:50. | |
It was very clearly stated in the document that cost taxpayers ?9 | :14:51. | :14:55. | |
million that this is your decision. The government will implement what | :14:56. | :15:02. | |
you decide. If that was not clear, the Prime Minister at the time, | :15:03. | :15:10. | |
David Cameron, on many occasions and in June on early Sunday said what | :15:11. | :15:13. | |
the British public will be voting for is to leave the EU and lead the | :15:14. | :15:22. | |
single market. That was also helpfully endorsed by one of the | :15:23. | :15:25. | |
predecessors of the right honourable member for Sheffield Hallam, the | :15:26. | :15:33. | |
noble lord Lord Ashdown who said, I will forgive no one who does not | :15:34. | :15:39. | |
respect the sovereign voice of the British people want it is spoken, | :15:40. | :15:43. | |
whether it is a majority of 1% or 20%. Well, it was a big vote, 17 | :15:44. | :15:53. | |
million, 410,000 voted to leave. The most votes for any issue or party in | :15:54. | :16:00. | |
our history and the highest percentage turnout since the 1992 | :16:01. | :16:06. | |
general election. So I thought the member for Saint pancreas' comments | :16:07. | :16:12. | |
were very wise and thoughtful and he recognised that we are now facing, | :16:13. | :16:17. | |
the establishment is facing, a real conundrum. We have had referendums, | :16:18. | :16:24. | |
we had won in 1975, we had a referendum on Wales, Scotland, | :16:25. | :16:30. | |
Northern Ireland, AV. Every time the popular vote of the referendum | :16:31. | :16:35. | |
delivered what the establishment wanted. This is a unique moment in | :16:36. | :16:42. | |
our history. We have had this massive vote and the establishment | :16:43. | :16:46. | |
does not want it. What I would say to those who are going to vote | :16:47. | :16:52. | |
against tomorrow night, just think of the shattering, catastrophic | :16:53. | :16:56. | |
damage to the integrity of the political establishment, the media | :16:57. | :17:03. | |
establishment and following the judgment last week, the judicial | :17:04. | :17:06. | |
establishment, if this is not delivered. What I am quite clear | :17:07. | :17:12. | |
about, having travelled all over the country during the referendum, | :17:13. | :17:16. | |
having campaigned for this since my earliest days in Parliament and by | :17:17. | :17:20. | |
European credentials are good, I was in business for 20 years, I rose to | :17:21. | :17:26. | |
become president of the European trade association, you do not have | :17:27. | :17:34. | |
to stand, I chaired meetings in French and retranslated for the | :17:35. | :17:37. | |
Germans when they could not keep up, but I saw at the time the | :17:38. | :17:41. | |
extraordinary growth of young economies elsewhere in the world and | :17:42. | :17:47. | |
I saw us being held back. What is tragic now is to see how Europe is | :17:48. | :17:51. | |
falling behind. Everyone bangs on about the single market, our sales | :17:52. | :17:58. | |
were worth 1600% in 1999 and they are now at 43%, so there are | :17:59. | :18:06. | |
wonderful opportunities out there. The three responsibilities I have | :18:07. | :18:12. | |
had, I bitterly resent the comments about Northern Ireland, this being | :18:13. | :18:16. | |
damaging to the peace process. We have the very best relations with | :18:17. | :18:20. | |
the Republic of Ireland and we will respect the Common travel area and | :18:21. | :18:24. | |
all that is good. We need to revive the economy in Northern Ireland. It | :18:25. | :18:29. | |
is hard to think of two areas of activity most damaged by the | :18:30. | :18:34. | |
European government and the Common agricultural policy and the Common | :18:35. | :18:39. | |
Fisheries Policy. We will now get these back to the person standing at | :18:40. | :18:43. | |
that dispatch box who we can hold responsible. As a deputy secretary I | :18:44. | :18:49. | |
would come here and I would say we were outvoted. From now on we will | :18:50. | :18:54. | |
have elected persons responsible to this Parliament. Will my honourable | :18:55. | :19:04. | |
friend confirm that he has heard the fishing industry complaining about | :19:05. | :19:06. | |
the disadvantage they faced under the Common Fisheries Policy over the | :19:07. | :19:14. | |
last 40 years? My honourable friend is absolutely right and she invited | :19:15. | :19:17. | |
me to Cornwall in the summer. I think in a hotly fought contest the | :19:18. | :19:25. | |
Common Fisheries Policy is the most dreadful, the most shatteringly bad | :19:26. | :19:31. | |
act of misgovernment. It is a biological, environmental, economic | :19:32. | :19:34. | |
and social disaster. It cannot be reformed. We give power back to | :19:35. | :19:41. | |
ministers sitting at that dispatch box, we can hold them to account and | :19:42. | :19:46. | |
we can learn all the lessons, I have travelled all over Norway, and down | :19:47. | :19:53. | |
to the Falklands, and we can bring in modern technology and we can get | :19:54. | :19:59. | |
away from the disgusting relic of the quota system which ensures a | :20:00. | :20:03. | |
quarter of fish are thrown back dead and it can be 1 million tonnes in | :20:04. | :20:10. | |
some years, nobody knows, worth 1.6 billion annually. There are real | :20:11. | :20:12. | |
advantages to the environment because we are proud signatories to | :20:13. | :20:20. | |
conventions which should not be reinterpreted at the European level, | :20:21. | :20:23. | |
they should be reinterpreted specifically for our own | :20:24. | :20:29. | |
environment, so we will gain in agriculture, fisheries, the | :20:30. | :20:32. | |
environment, and I will be voting tonight and tomorrow for this bill. | :20:33. | :20:41. | |
Mr Speaker, the Supreme Court remind us that we live in a Parliamentary | :20:42. | :20:45. | |
democracy and yes, it is true that Parliament decided we should have a | :20:46. | :20:50. | |
referendum and for myself I find it very difficult not to respect the | :20:51. | :20:56. | |
outcome of the referendum. But Parliament did not cut itself out of | :20:57. | :21:01. | |
this whole issue altogether. Parliament did not divest itself of | :21:02. | :21:05. | |
its involvement in determining what should happen when the UK withdraws | :21:06. | :21:10. | |
from the European Union, because that is the bill we are discussing | :21:11. | :21:15. | |
today. We are discussing the UK's withdrawal from the European Union, | :21:16. | :21:20. | |
not the Maastricht Treaty, which by the way had 23 days to debate the | :21:21. | :21:25. | |
issues in committee, or the Lisbon Treaty, or the Amsterdam Treaty, or | :21:26. | :21:30. | |
the single European act, this bill is more important than all of those | :21:31. | :21:34. | |
wrapped together and multiplied by a large factor. In a moment. That is | :21:35. | :21:41. | |
why we should look very carefully at what this bill says. This bill says | :21:42. | :21:48. | |
begrudgingly that ministers while they come and get permission from | :21:49. | :21:52. | |
Parliament for the notification, they then yank it back to the Prime | :21:53. | :21:58. | |
Minister, entirely 100% back into the hands of ministers alone to | :21:59. | :22:01. | |
determine our fate outside the European Union. That is why I cannot | :22:02. | :22:08. | |
bring myself to vote in favour of this particular legislation because | :22:09. | :22:14. | |
there are so many issues, so many ramifications, so many questions | :22:15. | :22:16. | |
surrounding our withdrawal from the European Union that it is our duty, | :22:17. | :22:20. | |
it is what the Supreme Court insisted what we do, to have due | :22:21. | :22:26. | |
diligence to look at all the issues surrounding this particular | :22:27. | :22:30. | |
question. That is why I have decided to table a few very judicious | :22:31. | :22:35. | |
amendments to this bill to try and cover a few corners of the questions | :22:36. | :22:40. | |
that I think this bill needs to address. What happens, for example, | :22:41. | :22:45. | |
in terms of our relationship with the single market? What are we doing | :22:46. | :22:50. | |
in potential tariff free access and frictionless trade across the rest | :22:51. | :22:56. | |
of Europe? Will we be able to have such advantages again? These are the | :22:57. | :23:00. | |
questions that were not on the ballot paper. It simply stated | :23:01. | :23:08. | |
should we remain to leave? The ballot paper did not go into those | :23:09. | :23:13. | |
details and those details are for Parliament to determine and for us | :23:14. | :23:17. | |
as members of Parliament to do our duty and to make sure we give a | :23:18. | :23:21. | |
steer to ministers, that we give them their instructions on how we | :23:22. | :23:26. | |
should be negotiating our withdrawal from the European Union. I | :23:27. | :23:29. | |
personally do not have faith in the Prime Minister's vision for a hard | :23:30. | :23:35. | |
Brexit because it is a hard Brexit. We may be falling very gently | :23:36. | :23:40. | |
through the air currently, like the skydiver who has jumped out of the | :23:41. | :23:45. | |
aeroplane. We are floating around. But I worry about the impact and the | :23:46. | :23:50. | |
hitting the ground and the effect not just on our democracy, but on | :23:51. | :23:55. | |
our constituents, on their jobs, on the growth we ought to be enjoying | :23:56. | :23:59. | |
in this economy to keep pace with our competitors. I thank my | :24:00. | :24:05. | |
honourable friend, he is giving an excellent speech. Would he confirm | :24:06. | :24:10. | |
the view held quite widely on this side of the House that is absolutely | :24:11. | :24:17. | |
critical to a successful Brexit will be membership of the single market? | :24:18. | :24:25. | |
Absolutely and we are not being given the opportunity to debate that | :24:26. | :24:30. | |
in this legislative process, a process that the government is so | :24:31. | :24:33. | |
afraid to go into that they have given it a measly three days at | :24:34. | :24:40. | |
committee stage. The Maastricht Treaty had so much more time to | :24:41. | :24:45. | |
discuss it. If they were not so frightened, they would allow the | :24:46. | :24:48. | |
House to go through all these questions. What happens to EU | :24:49. | :24:54. | |
nationals? Will they have rights to stay? It should be for Parliament to | :24:55. | :24:58. | |
determine these things. Are we going to have a transitional arrangement | :24:59. | :25:01. | |
so we do not fall off the cliff edge? All of these questions, Visa | :25:02. | :25:10. | |
free travel, what happens to their financial services trades? They may | :25:11. | :25:13. | |
face a ban on trading altogether in various areas. For the Prime | :25:14. | :25:17. | |
Minister to have already accepted the red lines of the other European | :25:18. | :25:24. | |
Union 27 countries, for her to have thrown in the towel on single market | :25:25. | :25:29. | |
membership without even trying to adapt free movement and find a | :25:30. | :25:34. | |
consensus, which I think would be available, is a failure of her | :25:35. | :25:39. | |
approach. For the Prime Minister to accept the red line that we are not | :25:40. | :25:45. | |
allowed to have parallel discussions and negotiations, we must only do | :25:46. | :25:49. | |
the divorce proceedings in these two years and then maybe we can talk | :25:50. | :25:56. | |
about the relationship. Would he not agree with me that the Prime | :25:57. | :26:00. | |
Minister showed great reality in her speech a few weeks ago when she made | :26:01. | :26:04. | |
it clear that if we do not accept free movement, as indeed she has | :26:05. | :26:09. | |
made clear, then we cannot be a member of the single market. That is | :26:10. | :26:15. | |
just a reality. I respect very much the honourable lady's contribution, | :26:16. | :26:20. | |
she is an independent thinker on these things. But I think we should | :26:21. | :26:24. | |
have at least asked, we should have tried. That is what a negotiation | :26:25. | :26:30. | |
is. You do not just accept the red line laid down, you go in and try | :26:31. | :26:36. | |
and adjust it. Do not tell me that Germany, Greece and other countries | :26:37. | :26:39. | |
are not facing issues where they might want more managed migration | :26:40. | :26:43. | |
systems. It could have been possible. I believe we should have | :26:44. | :26:48. | |
had a bit more fight in this particular process to salvage some | :26:49. | :26:53. | |
of the advantages that we need for our future generations, let alone | :26:54. | :26:59. | |
today's economy. I would like to see more fight from all members of | :27:00. | :27:02. | |
parliament and from our own leadership in the Labour Party. This | :27:03. | :27:07. | |
is one of the most important pieces of legislation for a generation and | :27:08. | :27:13. | |
future generations will look back on this and say, what did you do to try | :27:14. | :27:18. | |
and nudge the Prime Minister off that hard Brexit course? What did | :27:19. | :27:24. | |
you do to try and steer the course of the government negotiations away | :27:25. | :27:27. | |
from the rocks and away from falling over that cliff edge? I cannot bring | :27:28. | :27:33. | |
myself to back this legislation, but I will not be dissuaded from doing | :27:34. | :27:38. | |
my duty, trying to amend the bill and trying to improve the process so | :27:39. | :27:43. | |
we get the right deal for Britain. I would urge all parliamentarians to | :27:44. | :27:47. | |
use this legislation widely in that respect. It may look like an | :27:48. | :27:53. | |
innocuous sentence, a simple clause in the legislation, but it has a | :27:54. | :27:57. | |
phenomenal ramifications and if we do not try our best to come together | :27:58. | :28:02. | |
across the parties to save some of those elements of the single market | :28:03. | :28:06. | |
and salvage some of those benefits like tariff free trade for all of | :28:07. | :28:11. | |
our businesses and constituents, we will have massively failed in our | :28:12. | :28:13. | |
duty as parliamentarians. After more than three hours of | :28:14. | :28:24. | |
debate, a lot has been said, I will not repeat all of that. Like the | :28:25. | :28:29. | |
right Honourable member for Rushdie, I voted to remain. Unlike him, I | :28:30. | :28:33. | |
voted to promote the referendum and played some part in bringing the | :28:34. | :28:38. | |
Conservative Party towards having a referendum so I will be voting in | :28:39. | :28:44. | |
favour of triggering article 50. I shall vote in the succeeding week | :28:45. | :28:49. | |
against each and every attempt through amendments whatever kind to | :28:50. | :28:52. | |
the government in any way administratively or legally. Because | :28:53. | :28:58. | |
the government has to have the ability to negotiate flexibly in the | :28:59. | :29:04. | |
nation 's interest. I would add one point that I don't think has come | :29:05. | :29:09. | |
out so far in this debate. The question of what it is we are doing, | :29:10. | :29:13. | |
if I suspect tomorrow night we do vote to trigger article 50. There | :29:14. | :29:17. | |
has been some suggestion in speeches that somehow this vote is not | :29:18. | :29:23. | |
irrevocable and is not final and there will become a time where | :29:24. | :29:27. | |
Parliament can decide whether it likes to deal the government has | :29:28. | :29:30. | |
negotiated or whether it prefers instead to go back to the position | :29:31. | :29:35. | |
of remaining in the EU. That is clearly contrary to what the Prime | :29:36. | :29:40. | |
Minister set out in her speech. She made it perfectly clear that in her | :29:41. | :29:43. | |
view what Parliament would be deciding is to accept the deal or | :29:44. | :29:47. | |
not to accept the deal in which case we would have to fall back on the | :29:48. | :29:51. | |
WTO and other arrangements because we would in any case leave. I want | :29:52. | :29:55. | |
to say why I think she was right about that on three points of view. | :29:56. | :29:58. | |
The first is the question of legal fact. None of us is qualified to | :29:59. | :30:03. | |
make a judgment about the law in that respect but we have a piece of | :30:04. | :30:08. | |
luck. The Supreme Court has made a judgment about that. In the High | :30:09. | :30:12. | |
Court, and rather unusual High Court as it was composed, judgment. It was | :30:13. | :30:17. | |
not totally clear but in the Supreme Court judgment which is totally | :30:18. | :30:21. | |
clear, that the presumption of the Supreme Court that not only the | :30:22. | :30:28. | |
majority that this was an irrevocable act. And the whole | :30:29. | :30:30. | |
foundation of the legal case was that. He is making a powerful speech | :30:31. | :30:35. | |
but wasn't it agreed in the High Court that both sides accepted it | :30:36. | :30:41. | |
was irrevocable and therefore the Supreme Court did not look at that | :30:42. | :30:45. | |
question? He makes an interesting point. The difference between the | :30:46. | :30:48. | |
judgments is that the Supreme Court made it clear that in an irrevocable | :30:49. | :30:54. | |
at, what in their view was happening was a fundamental change in our | :30:55. | :30:58. | |
Constitution. That is a different character of argument than in the | :30:59. | :31:02. | |
High Court judgment and is conclusive. It means the Supreme | :31:03. | :31:05. | |
Court has ruled that in its view, this is an irrevocable act. That is | :31:06. | :31:11. | |
somewhat irrelevant to us because we are in parliament and not a group of | :31:12. | :31:15. | |
lawyers. Next we come to the democratic mandate. Is there a | :31:16. | :31:18. | |
democratic mandate that when article 50 is triggered, the result, | :31:19. | :31:24. | |
whatever it may be, at acceptable or unacceptable, should be that this | :31:25. | :31:28. | |
country leaves. I must say my right honourable friend, the member for | :31:29. | :31:33. | |
Chesham and Amersham were right and I know they were right because I am | :31:34. | :31:38. | |
one of the guilty men. I know that in the referendum campaign, I made | :31:39. | :31:43. | |
it perfectly clear to the many audiences I address that in my view, | :31:44. | :31:47. | |
and this is why I voted to remain. That it would be an inevitable | :31:48. | :31:52. | |
consequence of leaving that we would leave the single market and reassert | :31:53. | :31:56. | |
our control of the borders was incompatible with the single market. | :31:57. | :32:01. | |
We would have do leave the customs union and I made it perfectly clear | :32:02. | :32:06. | |
to them that we might find ourselves in a position where we were unable | :32:07. | :32:10. | |
to negotiate a free trade agreement because that takes two sides. | :32:11. | :32:17. | |
Therefore we might have the fallback on the WTO which I thought was a | :32:18. | :32:21. | |
great it seems as a matter of aquatic mandate that the people who | :32:22. | :32:25. | |
voted to leave were voting with their eyes wide open and that it | :32:26. | :32:29. | |
might have the consequence that we fell back on the WTO. The league | :32:30. | :32:32. | |
campaign made that perfectly clear as well, at least the more | :32:33. | :32:37. | |
responsible and more sensible people in the leave campaign when they | :32:38. | :32:41. | |
spoke about it. Both as a matter of legal fact and aquatic mandate, | :32:42. | :32:45. | |
there is an extraordinarily strong argument that in this vote tomorrow | :32:46. | :32:48. | |
night we are actually taking an irrevocable step that should not | :32:49. | :32:53. | |
lead Parliament to have any illusion that at a later date, it can go back | :32:54. | :32:58. | |
if it doesn't like the deal. Coming to the third and seemingly | :32:59. | :33:02. | |
overwhelming point in my view, what matters most is the fate of our | :33:03. | :33:06. | |
country. All of these arguments are just arguments. The fate of our | :33:07. | :33:10. | |
country is a real thing, affecting the men and women in it. The truth | :33:11. | :33:14. | |
is the negotiating hand that our government has will greatly | :33:15. | :33:18. | |
determine whether in the outcome we get the copper hence a free trade | :33:19. | :33:21. | |
deal of the kind the Prime Minister rightly seeks. And I know of no fact | :33:22. | :33:28. | |
more certain than that if this House were to suggest to our counterparts | :33:29. | :33:36. | |
in the EU 27 that we might decide at a later date that if the deal | :33:37. | :33:39. | |
offered to us was bad enough that we would to remain, that the | :33:40. | :33:44. | |
consequence would be that they would offer us the worst eel they could | :33:45. | :33:47. | |
think of. It is an inevitable consequence of wanting to keep us | :33:48. | :33:52. | |
in. Many of our EU 27 want to keep as in, I am not sure why. They would | :33:53. | :33:55. | |
best achieve that by offering the worst eel they could if they knew | :33:56. | :34:00. | |
that what Harlem at might do as a consequence is to vote to remain. | :34:01. | :34:04. | |
Therefore I think we have a solemn duty in this House to make it | :34:05. | :34:09. | |
abundantly clear, not just to the people of this country but to the EU | :34:10. | :34:14. | |
27 that this is an irrevocable act tomorrow night. That we are taking a | :34:15. | :34:18. | |
step we cannot go back from. That if we want a proper deal in the mutual | :34:19. | :34:22. | |
interest, they should offer it. And if we dared get it, we will leave | :34:23. | :34:27. | |
because we have triggered article 50 and we are out. Then we will have to | :34:28. | :34:31. | |
deal with the consequences of that thereafter. That makes tomorrow | :34:32. | :34:34. | |
night 's vote one of the most important we will ever take in this | :34:35. | :34:37. | |
House and I take it with some doubt and hesitation. But I take it | :34:38. | :34:41. | |
because I believe the will of the people in the end has been | :34:42. | :34:51. | |
expressed. Mr Speaker, I find myself in the position of having agreed | :34:52. | :34:54. | |
with everything the right honourable member for Rushcliffe has said, | :34:55. | :34:58. | |
virtually. And Birchley everything said by my honourable friends on | :34:59. | :35:03. | |
this side who are intending to vote against the second reading tomorrow | :35:04. | :35:07. | |
evening. I differ in one aspect only. In that identikit is possible | :35:08. | :35:11. | |
as a democratically elected member of Parliament, that entered into the | :35:12. | :35:19. | |
referendum having accepted that we were going to have that referendum | :35:20. | :35:22. | |
and then saying to the public that somehow I know better and I'm not | :35:23. | :35:28. | |
going to honour the outcome of that referendum. I will vote in favour of | :35:29. | :35:32. | |
triggering article 50 tomorrow night. But I will do so because I | :35:33. | :35:40. | |
don't want the party opposite, every time I challenge them over the | :35:41. | :35:43. | |
process and every time I challenge them to come back to this House to | :35:44. | :35:48. | |
be accountable for what they are negotiating on behalf of this | :35:49. | :35:52. | |
country, to turn round and say that somehow I am looking to second-guess | :35:53. | :35:57. | |
outcome of the referendum. They must be accountable for what they are | :35:58. | :36:08. | |
doing to this House. There are some questions about whether the | :36:09. | :36:11. | |
government is acting in the best interests. We had the spat with the | :36:12. | :36:16. | |
Italian economic Minister over whether Italy would be hurt by | :36:17. | :36:19. | |
selling less per second to the UK. He said that we may sell a little | :36:20. | :36:27. | |
bit less press code but he would be doing that to one country and you | :36:28. | :36:30. | |
would be selling less to 27 countries. We had a big comments of | :36:31. | :36:37. | |
the Foreign Secretary over freedom of movement as a founding principle | :36:38. | :36:41. | |
of the European Union. He used a rather unfortunate word in any | :36:42. | :36:45. | |
interview with a cheque newspaper but calls it a total myth and | :36:46. | :36:49. | |
nonsense to call it a founding principle. He may believe that is | :36:50. | :36:54. | |
true but that is not the way to go about negotiating with people who | :36:55. | :36:57. | |
are going to have an important say over future trade agreements for | :36:58. | :37:03. | |
this country. And when it came to the meeting about the outcome of the | :37:04. | :37:08. | |
election, the American presidential election. He said he spoke down to | :37:09. | :37:12. | |
the people that were attending a meeting convened to discuss that | :37:13. | :37:19. | |
saying "I would respectfully say to my European colleagues, what kind of | :37:20. | :37:22. | |
language is that to use when you are talking down to the very people you | :37:23. | :37:27. | |
want to be cooperating with you in future negotiations. He also went on | :37:28. | :37:32. | |
to describe the Donald Trump is a liberal guy from New York. He may | :37:33. | :37:38. | |
well be rethinking that one. The government has clearly shown that it | :37:39. | :37:41. | |
is not to be trusted with these negotiations without having | :37:42. | :37:44. | |
oversight from this House of Commons. We have to do have a say in | :37:45. | :37:50. | |
this process. I will be voting to trigger Article 50 and the benches | :37:51. | :38:04. | |
opposite, speeches and said that they want a say in Parliament. I | :38:05. | :38:10. | |
hope we will see them voting on amendments to ensure that actually | :38:11. | :38:14. | |
takes place in the debates we have over the three days next week. I | :38:15. | :38:19. | |
have heard all the talk about the brave new world that is going to | :38:20. | :38:24. | |
open up for us under the World Trade Organisation. People don't seem to | :38:25. | :38:27. | |
be respecting the fact that there are rules and regulations and | :38:28. | :38:32. | |
tariffs to be negotiated with the World Trade Organisation. It is | :38:33. | :38:36. | |
highly likely that our easiest way into the World Trade Organisation is | :38:37. | :38:39. | |
to take as a package the agreements we have under the EU and adopt them | :38:40. | :38:43. | |
under the World Trade Organisation. It is the uses way to avoid all | :38:44. | :38:49. | |
kinds of challenges to the UK. Which incidentally, we don't have the | :38:50. | :38:52. | |
teams of lawyers and accountants that are used to dealing with these | :38:53. | :38:56. | |
sorts of negotiations to act on our behalf. We are opening up all of | :38:57. | :39:00. | |
these negotiations without having the expertise in place. The question | :39:01. | :39:05. | |
asked several times of the government about building up these | :39:06. | :39:09. | |
departments and the expertise. Where are the experts that are used to | :39:10. | :39:13. | |
negotiating on behalf of the UK? They are all in Europe, they have | :39:14. | :39:17. | |
been doing it on a European level, they are not here. We will have to | :39:18. | :39:23. | |
do that at several levels. Trade agreements through the WTO, what is | :39:24. | :39:27. | |
going to happen with those countries who have vested interests like | :39:28. | :39:32. | |
Spain? They might want to use this vulnerability of the UK to open up | :39:33. | :39:37. | |
negotiations about Gibraltar. What if we go into the World Trade | :39:38. | :39:41. | |
Organisation, would Argentina start to challenge agreements with the UK | :39:42. | :39:45. | |
in order to open up negotiations about the future of the Falkland | :39:46. | :39:50. | |
Islands. This is the reality of international trade agreements. This | :39:51. | :39:53. | |
is the real world we are going to be moving into. The idea that we can | :39:54. | :39:58. | |
just fall out of Europe and into the World Trade Organisation, without | :39:59. | :40:03. | |
consequences, is folly. That is why this House of Commons has to have a | :40:04. | :40:09. | |
say over the process and it has got to scrutinise in detail what this | :40:10. | :40:12. | |
government is doing on behalf of this country. We as members of | :40:13. | :40:18. | |
Parliament have a duty to do that. The government should not stand in | :40:19. | :40:21. | |
the way of democratic accountability in this House by joint to | :40:22. | :40:26. | |
renegotiate the outcome of the referendum. That is not true but | :40:27. | :40:32. | |
that means that they can't avoid accountability. I hope the | :40:33. | :40:35. | |
government will accept an amendment on that basis so we bring | :40:36. | :40:38. | |
sovereignty back here to this House of Commons. Michael Gove. Can I | :40:39. | :40:46. | |
begin by saying how grateful I am and many other members of the House | :40:47. | :40:50. | |
are to both the High Court and the Supreme Court for their rulings | :40:51. | :40:54. | |
which ensure this legislation comes in fact of the House of Commons | :40:55. | :41:01. | |
today. As has been pointed out by judges, the original European | :41:02. | :41:04. | |
Community 's act of 1972 was a constitutional statute of such | :41:05. | :41:10. | |
significance that it and its provisions can only be changed by | :41:11. | :41:15. | |
legislation. I am glad the government is bringing forward this | :41:16. | :41:19. | |
bill. The 1972 European Community 's act is significant because it allows | :41:20. | :41:24. | |
laws made outside this House to have direct affect in the law of this | :41:25. | :41:32. | |
land. -- Fx. Laws which are framed, designed and shaped by individuals | :41:33. | :41:37. | |
whom we have never elected and whom we cannot remove have a sovereign | :41:38. | :41:43. | |
ability to dictate what is legal and what is illegal in this House? I | :41:44. | :41:49. | |
listen with respect and interest, like the honourable gentleman just | :41:50. | :41:54. | |
by Koo stressed the importance of parliamentary scrutiny. Where were | :41:55. | :41:58. | |
they between 1972 and now when literally thousands of laws were | :41:59. | :42:01. | |
imposed on the people of this country, not just without scrutiny | :42:02. | :42:06. | |
but without debate, vote or the possibility of amendment or | :42:07. | :42:07. | |
rejection? They are pretty late coming to the | :42:08. | :42:12. | |
Democratic party now. I thought it was instructive that | :42:13. | :42:32. | |
the leader, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats, the member for | :42:33. | :42:38. | |
Sheffield Hallam, was dismissive of the result and the debate during the | :42:39. | :42:44. | |
course of the referendum. A previous leader of the Liberal Democrats said | :42:45. | :42:49. | |
on referendum night, when the British people vote, you do what | :42:50. | :42:52. | |
they demand, when democracy speaks, we obey. Any people who retreat | :42:53. | :42:59. | |
into, we are coming back for a second one, they do not believe in | :43:00. | :43:04. | |
democracy. It is a tragedy that the party that calls itself Liberal | :43:05. | :43:09. | |
Democrats is scarcely liberal and now anti-democratic. It would be | :43:10. | :43:13. | |
harmful for our democracy at a time when all of us are concerned about | :43:14. | :43:22. | |
the rise of rockers populism... I know the response from the SNP who | :43:23. | :43:28. | |
are the prime traders in rockers populism. If we were now to reject a | :43:29. | :43:33. | |
considered decision of 74 million of our fellow citizens, we would only | :43:34. | :43:41. | |
be feeding the dissatisfaction with the democratic process. That is why | :43:42. | :43:45. | |
we should respect the result and honour the mandate. There are a | :43:46. | :43:51. | |
number of people who ask for white papers and scrutiny and greater | :43:52. | :43:55. | |
clarity. We have had a promise of a white paper, we have had a 6000 word | :43:56. | :44:00. | |
speech from our Prime Minister and clarity on all these issues. They | :44:01. | :44:05. | |
are people who will not take yes for an answer and they are seeking | :44:06. | :44:10. | |
obfuscation, delay and a dilution of a democratic mandate from the | :44:11. | :44:17. | |
British people. Rubbish! Firstly, can I say that a 6000 word speech | :44:18. | :44:23. | |
would be a very short speech if he were to give it, but can I challenge | :44:24. | :44:28. | |
him on the issue of a white paper. He and many others who voted to | :44:29. | :44:33. | |
campaign to leave want to take that controlled to rest in the sovereign | :44:34. | :44:36. | |
parliament. Does he not agree that it is right, that the government's | :44:37. | :44:42. | |
terms that they want to start negotiations with are presented in a | :44:43. | :44:45. | |
white paper to this parliament and not just in a speech at Lancaster | :44:46. | :44:49. | |
House? The Prime Minister has already agreed a white paper will be | :44:50. | :44:56. | |
published. The Secretary of State said it will come as soon as | :44:57. | :45:00. | |
possible. I have enormous respect for my right honourable friend and I | :45:01. | :45:04. | |
will return to an argument she made outside displays in a second. So | :45:05. | :45:08. | |
many of those who call for a white paper is so very rarely actually | :45:09. | :45:13. | |
outline what they think the right course is. It is so very rare that | :45:14. | :45:19. | |
we have had a positive case put. What we have repeatedly is an | :45:20. | :45:23. | |
attempt to rewrite what happened in the referendum debate. The | :45:24. | :45:27. | |
honourable member for Derby South tried to present the referendum | :45:28. | :45:35. | |
debate as if it was inconclusive. As the right honourable member for | :45:36. | :45:38. | |
Dorset West pointed out, we could not have been clearer that we were | :45:39. | :45:43. | |
leaving the single market and it was also perfectly clear we could not | :45:44. | :45:46. | |
have the trade deals of the future without leaving the customs union. | :45:47. | :45:52. | |
Could he therefore please assure us that he still would be true to his | :45:53. | :46:01. | |
claim as the leader of the leave campaign that ?350 million will now | :46:02. | :46:07. | |
be going into our NHS? Or does he agree with others that actually that | :46:08. | :46:11. | |
figure was always false and it was a lie? I have no idea whether or not | :46:12. | :46:20. | |
the word lie is not Parliamentary, but what I do know is as somebody | :46:21. | :46:24. | |
not in the government I cannot quibble with these psalms. But I can | :46:25. | :46:31. | |
consistently argue that when we take back control of the money we | :46:32. | :46:35. | |
currently give to the European Union, we can invest that money in | :46:36. | :46:39. | |
the NHS. It was the consistent campaign of believe campaign that we | :46:40. | :46:44. | |
should wish to give some of the money we take that to use to spend | :46:45. | :46:51. | |
on supporting science and to make sure we could get rid of VAT on | :46:52. | :46:55. | |
fuel, something we cannot do while we are still members of the European | :46:56. | :47:02. | |
Union. He may not be in the government and able to make the | :47:03. | :47:06. | |
decision, but surely he will be lobbying his Prime Minister hard for | :47:07. | :47:12. | |
the ?350 million by the NHS. Will he confirm that? When we leave the | :47:13. | :47:18. | |
European Union we will ensure that money is spent on our NHS and other | :47:19. | :47:24. | |
vital public services. This comes to the heart of the challenge that was | :47:25. | :47:28. | |
issued by the member for Leeds Central and by the opposition | :47:29. | :47:33. | |
spokesperson for Cockburn and St Pancras. How do we ensure that the | :47:34. | :47:40. | |
views of the 52% and the views of the 48% who did not vote to leave | :47:41. | :47:46. | |
the European Union are respected? My challenge to the 48%, and they are | :47:47. | :47:50. | |
represented at the highest levels of the government, we have a Prime | :47:51. | :47:55. | |
Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer, who voted to remain in | :47:56. | :47:59. | |
the European Union, so it is not as though those views are ignored or | :48:00. | :48:05. | |
marginal. But can we ensure that the Brexit we embrace is liberal, open | :48:06. | :48:10. | |
and democratic? That means more money for the NHS and embracing the | :48:11. | :48:14. | |
principles outlined by my right honourable friend, the member for | :48:15. | :48:18. | |
Loughborough, which means giving an absolute unilateral guaranteed to EU | :48:19. | :48:25. | |
citizens they should stay here. It means having a free-trade policy | :48:26. | :48:30. | |
which liberated from the common external tariff allows us to help | :48:31. | :48:39. | |
the third World fans and means exercising a leadership role on the | :48:40. | :48:45. | |
world stage at a time when in Europe European Union politicians are | :48:46. | :48:48. | |
increasingly naive or appeasing in their attitude towards Vladimir | :48:49. | :48:52. | |
Putin. We can stand tall as the Prime Minister did in making the | :48:53. | :48:57. | |
case for collective Western security and Nato. These are all | :48:58. | :49:02. | |
opportunities available to us as we leave the European Union. The | :49:03. | :49:05. | |
challenge to the other side and the opportunity for us is to ensure we | :49:06. | :49:12. | |
make that positive case. Within the Borough Wandsworth which houses my | :49:13. | :49:14. | |
constituency of tooting, small businesses have been booming. The | :49:15. | :49:19. | |
previous Prime Minister and a member of the government's Treasury team... | :49:20. | :49:27. | |
Sorry? Last year, the Prime Minister said that businesses were booming | :49:28. | :49:31. | |
due to access to the single market. Do you deny this point? I do. Since | :49:32. | :49:37. | |
we have left the European Union we have seen... Can I appeal to members | :49:38. | :49:44. | |
to have some regard for the conventions of the place. If one | :49:45. | :49:50. | |
intervenes on a member, I realise the honourable lady is very new to | :49:51. | :49:53. | |
the House, but if one intervenes, one must do so with some regards to | :49:54. | :49:57. | |
their moral entitlement to have time to reply, which he did not. I | :49:58. | :50:08. | |
certainly remember that campaign bus that promised ?350 million a week to | :50:09. | :50:14. | |
the NHS. That is something we saw on our TV screens night in and night | :50:15. | :50:20. | |
out. But I digress by following the honourable member. I campaigned to | :50:21. | :50:26. | |
remain in the EU, but I accept the result and I will be voting for this | :50:27. | :50:31. | |
build tomorrow evening. The leader of the Liberal Democrats calls this | :50:32. | :50:37. | |
cowardly. I'd call it democracy. We held a national referendum, those of | :50:38. | :50:42. | |
us on the remain site might not like the result, but we have to accept | :50:43. | :50:47. | |
it. The result was close, but it was clear and it was also clear in my | :50:48. | :50:53. | |
own constituency. In a minute. That does not mean the government gets a | :50:54. | :50:58. | |
free pass. That does not mean if I strive to hold them to account that | :50:59. | :51:04. | |
I am an enemy of the people. The government is accountable to this | :51:05. | :51:07. | |
place and has already made some major errors, not just on the | :51:08. | :51:12. | |
substance of the negotiations, but also on the tone. I believe it is | :51:13. | :51:17. | |
the height of irresponsibility that the Foreign Secretary has chosen to | :51:18. | :51:22. | |
pick needless fights with our EU counterparts when we are about to | :51:23. | :51:26. | |
embark on one of the most complicated and sensitive | :51:27. | :51:31. | |
negotiations in our history. His focus should be on securing the best | :51:32. | :51:35. | |
deal for the UK and the rest of the EU. For me today's debate is not | :51:36. | :51:42. | |
about whether we leave the EU or not, it is about how this households | :51:43. | :51:46. | |
the government to account at every stage of this process and makes sure | :51:47. | :51:51. | |
it secures the best deal for the UK. After all, a bad deal or no Deal | :51:52. | :51:55. | |
could have catastrophic results for our economy, jobs, investment and | :51:56. | :52:01. | |
the living standards of the people we represent. I want to make three | :52:02. | :52:10. | |
brief points. I will. She mentioned the vote and to paraphrase the | :52:11. | :52:17. | |
member from New Forest East, the people of my nation voted to remain | :52:18. | :52:23. | |
and I will vote accordingly. The referendum held a couple of years | :52:24. | :52:28. | |
ago in Scotland was lost by the SNP and we are one country and it was a | :52:29. | :52:33. | |
national referendum. The first point I wanted to make is that we must | :52:34. | :52:39. | |
have meaningful, Parliamentary scrutiny of this process. We are | :52:40. | :52:46. | |
only debating this build today because the Supreme Court upheld | :52:47. | :52:51. | |
Parliamentary sovereignty that Eurosceptics throughout the decade | :52:52. | :52:54. | |
have lectured us about, but seemed to think we could give it up on this | :52:55. | :53:00. | |
issue. Giving MPs the opportunity to vote and scrutinise the government's | :53:01. | :53:04. | |
plans is not good enough at the very start and at the very end of this | :53:05. | :53:09. | |
process. We are not here simply to rubber-stamp the government's plans, | :53:10. | :53:16. | |
we are not passive bystanders in this, we should be active | :53:17. | :53:21. | |
participants in this process. Our parliament represents every corner | :53:22. | :53:24. | |
of our country and this government does not. The Secretary of State for | :53:25. | :53:31. | |
Exiting the EU, who used to be a great champion of Parliamentary | :53:32. | :53:36. | |
sovereignty, said on the 24th of January, I quote, the simple truth | :53:37. | :53:40. | |
is there will be any number of votes, too many to count in the next | :53:41. | :53:45. | |
two years on a whole range of issues. On that day I asked him | :53:46. | :53:49. | |
whether members of this house would get a vote either before or at the | :53:50. | :53:52. | |
same time as the European Parliament. He claimed he had not | :53:53. | :53:56. | |
thought about it and agreed to write to me and I am still waiting for his | :53:57. | :54:01. | |
letter. The right honourable member for Beaconsfield in his speech today | :54:02. | :54:06. | |
made this point very forcefully. We cannot just have a vote at the end | :54:07. | :54:10. | |
of this process when we could be left with a choice of no Deal or | :54:11. | :54:17. | |
leaving. I would like the minister in winding up tomorrow to tell us, | :54:18. | :54:21. | |
and I hope one of the amendments to this effect will go through, whether | :54:22. | :54:25. | |
this house will have a vote prior to the European Parliament voting on | :54:26. | :54:32. | |
that stage of the negotiation. Second, the government must deliver | :54:33. | :54:36. | |
the best economic deal and be clear about what that means and level with | :54:37. | :54:40. | |
the British people about the risks to our economy. I understand the | :54:41. | :54:47. | |
government has ruled out membership of the single market and the Prime | :54:48. | :54:50. | |
Minister says her priority is tariff free trade. But the benefits of the | :54:51. | :54:56. | |
single market go way beyond traditional free-trade agreement. | :54:57. | :55:01. | |
The single market is a vast factory floor with integrated supply chains | :55:02. | :55:06. | |
and goods and services moving seamlessly across borders. As the | :55:07. | :55:11. | |
right honourable member said earlier, regulatory barriers matter | :55:12. | :55:15. | |
more than tariffs in the modern world, especially in advanced | :55:16. | :55:21. | |
economies like our own. That is why business organisations are calling | :55:22. | :55:24. | |
for regulatory stability. But I would like to hear more from the | :55:25. | :55:30. | |
government about this. One of the most alarming prospects the Prime | :55:31. | :55:33. | |
Minister raised in her Lancaster House speech is she said she was | :55:34. | :55:38. | |
prepared to settle for no Deal. But I do not understand what is a worse | :55:39. | :55:45. | |
deal than no Deal? I am struggling to understand why we would want to | :55:46. | :55:52. | |
choose to full-back on tariffs. As my right honourable friend said so | :55:53. | :55:56. | |
elegantly, this would be catastrophic and bring huge risks to | :55:57. | :56:00. | |
jobs, investment and prosperity for our constituents. Third and finally, | :56:01. | :56:08. | |
Mr Speaker, I agree with those honourable members who said the | :56:09. | :56:11. | |
government should unilaterally guarantee the rights of EU | :56:12. | :56:17. | |
nationals. I think that would create goodwill in the negotiations and | :56:18. | :56:21. | |
make sure that our nationals in other EU member states get the same | :56:22. | :56:26. | |
treatment. But I also believe the government should put forward a | :56:27. | :56:30. | |
preferential and managed migration system within these negotiations. I | :56:31. | :56:35. | |
think the government is wrong to assume that free-trade deals are | :56:36. | :56:39. | |
just about trade. When the Prime Minister went to India, what did the | :56:40. | :56:44. | |
Indian government want to talk about? They wanted to talk about | :56:45. | :56:47. | |
visas for their business people and their students. To secure the best | :56:48. | :56:53. | |
possible economic deal, the government must put forward | :56:54. | :56:57. | |
proposals which give EU workers preference, but I also believe we | :56:58. | :57:00. | |
should have a system that controls the numbers and that is why myself | :57:01. | :57:05. | |
and my honourable friend for Aberavon have put forward a two tier | :57:06. | :57:11. | |
system which will retain movement for highly skilled workers and put | :57:12. | :57:14. | |
in controls for lower and semiskilled workers. I suspect and | :57:15. | :57:25. | |
feared the process we are about to vote on will close a lengthy chapter | :57:26. | :57:31. | |
in our history, which has included support of enlargement and has seen | :57:32. | :57:35. | |
our economy grow, which has seen our country become more liberal, which | :57:36. | :57:39. | |
has seen us more active on the international field. I think that is | :57:40. | :57:45. | |
a problem we will have to deal with and historians will ask the question | :57:46. | :57:50. | |
why did we do it in years to come. But we have to make sure we | :57:51. | :57:54. | |
understand the gravity of the situation and the seriousness of our | :57:55. | :57:55. | |
decision. I did say that this was a decision | :57:56. | :58:12. | |
that mattered. I feel duty bound to recognise that I have the support | :58:13. | :58:18. | |
Article 15 this week. I do so with a very heavy heart. I wanted say | :58:19. | :58:24. | |
something about trade. There seems to be this idea that because we are | :58:25. | :58:28. | |
in the European Union that we cannot trade elsewhere. Wrong, Germany | :58:29. | :58:36. | |
does, Italy, Poland, Spain. And they all export to the rest of the world | :58:37. | :58:40. | |
precisely because they are in the European Union and precisely because | :58:41. | :58:43. | |
we have free trade agreements with the rest of the world. All of that | :58:44. | :58:48. | |
will have to be remade and repeated by us. Let us make that point clear. | :58:49. | :58:55. | |
As he supposes, the European Union has been so successful in trade | :58:56. | :58:59. | |
deals, how is it that Switzerland is able to set many more trade deals | :59:00. | :59:02. | |
than the European Union has managed over the years? It is worth bearing | :59:03. | :59:08. | |
in mind that the European Union right now accounts for almost a | :59:09. | :59:13. | |
quarter of the world's 's domestic product and a huge amount of trade | :59:14. | :59:17. | |
with it. That is a signal of just why it is important for us to bear | :59:18. | :59:21. | |
in mind what the European Union has done for us. What I want to go on to | :59:22. | :59:29. | |
is the 48%. It is crucial that the 48% are properly represented in this | :59:30. | :59:33. | |
process. When we have a general election and an elected government, | :59:34. | :59:36. | |
we doubt expect that government to govern for one part of the country | :59:37. | :59:41. | |
but for the whole of the country. Every aspect of national life. That | :59:42. | :59:47. | |
is what I do in my own constituency. I don't ask if they vote for me | :59:48. | :59:51. | |
before I start dealing with them. They are one of my constituents | :59:52. | :59:54. | |
whoever they voted for. That is how we have to deal with Brexit. | :59:55. | :00:01. | |
Recognise the 48% has a say and should be in clue did. That is how | :00:02. | :00:06. | |
we are going to bring this together. We need to open it up and make sure | :00:07. | :00:16. | |
we reach out to them and to the others. When we look at the great | :00:17. | :00:20. | |
repeal Bill. Remember what happened to the Conservative Party when they | :00:21. | :00:23. | |
looked at the great reform act. We will discover one or two things | :00:24. | :00:28. | |
about our national life which is quite important. That we are not | :00:29. | :00:32. | |
being told by the European Union all the time to do things we don't want | :00:33. | :00:36. | |
to do. I am looking forward to the opportunity of exposing those facts | :00:37. | :00:41. | |
when we go along that process of the debate. I think Brexit supporters | :00:42. | :00:45. | |
will be disappointed to discover that quite a lot of things that we | :00:46. | :00:49. | |
are supposedly wanting to repeal are things we might want to retain. On | :00:50. | :00:57. | |
that point, was he astonished by the speech by the member for East Antrim | :00:58. | :01:01. | |
who is not here at the moment, the feeling in the Northern Ireland was | :01:02. | :01:03. | |
that the EU was telling them what to do but now they are being told to | :01:04. | :01:07. | |
leave the EU by the UK, that seems to be OK. On the idea of telling who | :01:08. | :01:12. | |
is telling who to do what seems to be a shape shifting idea? I usually | :01:13. | :01:17. | |
find when I tell someone to do something that I don't want to do, I | :01:18. | :01:20. | |
get the blame and something they want to do, it was their idea in the | :01:21. | :01:24. | |
first place. I think that is how we should remember this. When we look | :01:25. | :01:29. | |
back on how history, we will see that is absolutely right with the | :01:30. | :01:34. | |
European Union. When I talk about events, Harold Macmillan was a great | :01:35. | :01:37. | |
one for events. We have two years of important events to face. Some of | :01:38. | :01:41. | |
those are going to be unpleasant and some are going to be quite | :01:42. | :01:44. | |
surprising. I can't predict what they are going to be but what I | :01:45. | :01:49. | |
think is that the government has to react carefully to those events | :01:50. | :01:53. | |
because they will include changes in economic moods. They will include | :01:54. | :01:58. | |
situations in international policy which require a response above and | :01:59. | :02:02. | |
beyond what we are focusing on in terms of Brexit. Remember events, | :02:03. | :02:08. | |
remember they are opportunities for a more sensible view about how we | :02:09. | :02:14. | |
direct negotiations and our sense of purpose towards Brexit. That is why | :02:15. | :02:21. | |
this parliament must have a significant say in how we operate. | :02:22. | :02:25. | |
Those events will affect this country and will affect our judgment | :02:26. | :02:32. | |
and the negotiations and they will effect the will of the people. | :02:33. | :02:38. | |
Parliament is the place to have those properly debated, not press | :02:39. | :02:41. | |
releases or anything else we might imagine. Parliament is the national | :02:42. | :02:47. | |
place for those decisions. I want to mention something else which I think | :02:48. | :02:51. | |
is really critical. We cannot leave Europe in terms of geography. We are | :02:52. | :02:57. | |
only a few miles away from the European Union on the continent. We | :02:58. | :03:03. | |
are always going to have to have good relationships with the | :03:04. | :03:07. | |
continent. With the 27 nation states. I would urge the government | :03:08. | :03:11. | |
and all of us in the next two years to make sure those relationships are | :03:12. | :03:17. | |
actually built on and strengthened. We do not wish Madam Deputy Speaker | :03:18. | :03:20. | |
to find ourselves in a situation where we do not have that friendship | :03:21. | :03:26. | |
or those alliances. Because Europe itself will change. We want to be | :03:27. | :03:31. | |
part of that change, driving it forward to it even better things. | :03:32. | :03:36. | |
But that will offer us the opportunity if we play our cards | :03:37. | :03:44. | |
right. Just speculation, associate membership, we must not turn our | :03:45. | :03:48. | |
backs on the opportunities that might present themselves in the | :03:49. | :03:53. | |
future. That is why I am very keen that Parliament has a strong role in | :03:54. | :03:57. | |
this. That in the next two years we think of those events and | :03:58. | :04:01. | |
opportunities and retain and strengthened those relationships. Of | :04:02. | :04:05. | |
course, it is essential for Parliament to have some final say on | :04:06. | :04:11. | |
these matters when we get to the endgame, if we actually do get to | :04:12. | :04:17. | |
that endgame. It is why it is important to not just talk about | :04:18. | :04:22. | |
voting on Deal or no Deal but have a view about where we go if such a | :04:23. | :04:29. | |
deal does not emerge which is satisfactory or a deal does not | :04:30. | :04:33. | |
emerge at all. We must have a contribution to make. It is not | :04:34. | :04:39. | |
correct to say the European Union is hell-bent on making life a misery | :04:40. | :04:46. | |
for us. Everyone knows that we are interdependent, we all know that and | :04:47. | :04:50. | |
it is important to accept that as a Parliament and as a country. A | :04:51. | :04:54. | |
constituent of mine had a very good phrase which I will borrow. He said" | :04:55. | :05:00. | |
you shouldn't jump out of an aeroplane without checking the | :05:01. | :05:03. | |
parachute is working." That is what we have to consider when we head | :05:04. | :05:10. | |
towards the final moment in two years. I summarise by saying this, | :05:11. | :05:13. | |
consider how we will incorporate this whole decision around not just | :05:14. | :05:20. | |
the 52 but the 48. Ink about the opportunities through the events as | :05:21. | :05:25. | |
they arise. Or the threats arising from those events. Maintain good | :05:26. | :05:29. | |
relationships and above all recognise this Parliament is | :05:30. | :05:33. | |
sovereign. It always has been and that is what we have to recognise | :05:34. | :05:35. | |
and salute. I pleasure to follow a thoughtful | :05:36. | :05:49. | |
contribution. A government that was confident in what it was doing and | :05:50. | :05:53. | |
confident it was pursuing the right ends would have had no difficulty in | :05:54. | :05:59. | |
engaging with Parliament. It would have welcomed the opportunity. What | :06:00. | :06:03. | |
we saw instead was a government and Prime Minister hiding from | :06:04. | :06:06. | |
Parliament. And from the democratic processes in which good governance | :06:07. | :06:11. | |
is ill. They were forced into coming here and doing the right thing | :06:12. | :06:13. | |
because they were dragged before the courts and defeated and defeated | :06:14. | :06:20. | |
again by campaigners holding up the principle of parliamentary democracy | :06:21. | :06:24. | |
as to something the government should bow to. I would also like to | :06:25. | :06:27. | |
thank those democracy campaigners and single out Gena Miller in | :06:28. | :06:33. | |
particular for the contributions they have made. It will have | :06:34. | :06:36. | |
long-lasting effects on these issues and others. This few paragraphs, | :06:37. | :06:45. | |
this poor excuse for legislation has been wrung out of the government and | :06:46. | :06:49. | |
its brevity is childish and disrespectful to this place. And to | :06:50. | :06:55. | |
the people whose representatives come here on their Baja. The | :06:56. | :07:01. | |
government should be ashamed. It suggests there was no preparation | :07:02. | :07:04. | |
done by the government in advance of the court judgment. Even when it was | :07:05. | :07:09. | |
going back to appeal without much chance of success. That would smack | :07:10. | :07:13. | |
of the same kind of arrogant laziness that marked the approach of | :07:14. | :07:17. | |
David Cameron's government to the referendum. No preparation, just | :07:18. | :07:25. | |
wing it and hope. The other side do not seem to think that people should | :07:26. | :07:28. | |
be entitled to know what the plan is. In Scotland, we debated the | :07:29. | :07:34. | |
details, people mention the independence referendum, for two | :07:35. | :07:37. | |
years. In this place, the government still doesn't know what the details | :07:38. | :07:42. | |
are, two months before kick-off. A clear indication of the lack of | :07:43. | :07:45. | |
preparation is the attitude the government has struck towards | :07:46. | :07:50. | |
devolved administrations. Promising consultation and open dialogue but | :07:51. | :07:53. | |
delivering little and has said almost nothing. The Scottish | :07:54. | :07:56. | |
Government which has put some thought in how to proceed offered | :07:57. | :08:04. | |
constructive advice but heard nothing other than that the | :08:05. | :08:08. | |
paperwork would be red. No offer to discuss the negotiations as they go | :08:09. | :08:13. | |
along. No offer of a seat at the negotiating table for Scottish | :08:14. | :08:15. | |
leaders. That is what a United Kingdom government would offer if it | :08:16. | :08:19. | |
was serious about taking the devolved administrations with it. If | :08:20. | :08:25. | |
it was confident of its ground. In Scotland we have reason to be | :08:26. | :08:29. | |
anxious about what the UK Government is doing in Europe. But Northern | :08:30. | :08:34. | |
Ireland has more reason than most to worry. The prospect of a return to a | :08:35. | :08:39. | |
hard border is horrendous for communities and businesses in | :08:40. | :08:42. | |
Northern Ireland and any threat to the Common travel area are extremely | :08:43. | :08:46. | |
serious. The government attitude seems to be an approach that | :08:47. | :08:48. | |
everything will be fine and that Northern Ireland has a ways been | :08:49. | :08:52. | |
treated as a special case by the EU and will be treated so again. That | :08:53. | :08:56. | |
ignores the fact that it was treated as a special case of it was part of | :08:57. | :09:02. | |
the EU. There are no guarantees that any EU institution or member state | :09:03. | :09:05. | |
will feel like giving special dispensation to Northern Ireland. If | :09:06. | :09:09. | |
there is a case to be made, it may only be by the grace and good will | :09:10. | :09:13. | |
of the Irish government that it is made. The UK is approaching Brexit | :09:14. | :09:18. | |
in the same way this bill was made with hope, arrogance, and frankly | :09:19. | :09:24. | |
nothing in its substance. There is nothing on offer to our European | :09:25. | :09:27. | |
partners because the arrogant assumption of this government and of | :09:28. | :09:32. | |
the exit campaigners was that the EU need the UK more than the UK needs | :09:33. | :09:38. | |
the EU. But London is the epicentre of world trade and so the EU's | :09:39. | :09:43. | |
financial institutions will come begging rather than firms move staff | :09:44. | :09:48. | |
into the EU. I thank her for giving way. She is absolutely right to | :09:49. | :09:52. | |
raise the prospect of the issue of the Irish border. I was living in | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
the Irish whip, if I was, I would be worried that my single largest | :09:58. | :10:00. | |
trading partner the USA is not in the EU and pretty soon, my other | :10:01. | :10:05. | |
single largest trading partner, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and | :10:06. | :10:08. | |
Northern Ireland Whidbey in the EU either. They should be getting out | :10:09. | :10:17. | |
along with us. I think maintaining a close trading relationship with | :10:18. | :10:20. | |
Northern Ireland would of course be the best interests of the UK it is | :10:21. | :10:21. | |
in Europe or not. The financial institutions coming | :10:22. | :10:34. | |
begging rather than moving staff to the EU. That is how it appears and | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
how it will continue to appear because this legislation will | :10:40. | :10:44. | |
perhaps be the most important constitutional legislation | :10:45. | :10:47. | |
considered by this House in 40 years and it has come without a White | :10:48. | :10:52. | |
Paper or an intelligible government position. It has come without a | :10:53. | :10:55. | |
manifesto commitment and without preparation. This bill cannot be | :10:56. | :11:00. | |
entrusted to carry the intent of this House because this House does | :11:01. | :11:04. | |
not know the intent of the government in leading negotiations | :11:05. | :11:08. | |
with the 27 other EU states. What does the trading agreement it seeks | :11:09. | :11:13. | |
look like? Does it give us full access to the market? What about the | :11:14. | :11:17. | |
movement between countries, we hear a constant barrage about taking back | :11:18. | :11:20. | |
control of immigration but nothing about how those controls will be | :11:21. | :11:25. | |
exercised. We know neither the starting position nor the hoped-for | :11:26. | :11:30. | |
end effects of the triggering of article 50. We saw a 12 point plan | :11:31. | :11:33. | |
recently that frankly looked more like a wish list. In the great field | :11:34. | :11:39. | |
of evidence -based policy making, this bill does not figure. It has | :11:40. | :11:46. | |
been operating without this has knowing what the government is | :11:47. | :11:51. | |
looking for or hampered by the UK Government. I would be astonished | :11:52. | :11:56. | |
that the government will seek to take the UK out of the EU with this | :11:57. | :12:00. | |
pitiful excuse for a dog eating its homework. And shock that most of the | :12:01. | :12:06. | |
loyal opposition is not opposing it. But I am not. We have come nothing | :12:07. | :12:17. | |
-- we have become used to this fratricidal position. The SNP will | :12:18. | :12:20. | |
not support triggering article 50, we believe Scotland's place is in | :12:21. | :12:24. | |
the EU and we will speak up for Scotland. I hope enough members on | :12:25. | :12:28. | |
the government benches and on the Labour benches have the character to | :12:29. | :12:33. | |
join us but I am not holding my breath. | :12:34. | :12:41. | |
This is an historic day. I participated in the campaign and I | :12:42. | :12:49. | |
fought hard for us to leave the European Union. I was too young to | :12:50. | :13:00. | |
vote in the first referendum in 19. Mac. Mac my birth certificate will | :13:01. | :13:08. | |
be available for views later. I was too young. This was the first | :13:09. | :13:14. | |
referendum that I had an opportunity to voting 43 years after the first | :13:15. | :13:21. | |
referendum. The honourable gentleman for Stroud has said that when you | :13:22. | :13:24. | |
are jumping out of an aeroplane you make sure that your parachute is | :13:25. | :13:31. | |
working. I preferred to add that if at first you do not succeed, | :13:32. | :13:39. | |
skydiving is not for you. On this occasion the British people knew | :13:40. | :13:43. | |
exactly what they were doing because it was a hard-fought campaign. We | :13:44. | :13:47. | |
heard all the arguments for remaining in, which were | :13:48. | :13:55. | |
characterised as project fear. I am really pleased to say that the vast | :13:56. | :14:00. | |
majority of what was predicted simply has not happened. I will give | :14:01. | :14:06. | |
way. He says the British people knew exactly what they were doing and I | :14:07. | :14:09. | |
have great respect for the honourable member, but we have had | :14:10. | :14:14. | |
committee after committee in this house trying to work out what all | :14:15. | :14:19. | |
this means. I am bemused that before everybody knew what it all meant, | :14:20. | :14:24. | |
but now we have committee after committee trying to work out what it | :14:25. | :14:28. | |
all means and that is incongruous. There were a number of things that | :14:29. | :14:34. | |
were said that would happen on our departure from the European Union. I | :14:35. | :14:39. | |
suspect the reality was that some people were surprised that the | :14:40. | :14:42. | |
British people had the guts despite the fact that what we were told was | :14:43. | :14:47. | |
going to happen and they still decided to vote to leave the | :14:48. | :14:51. | |
European Union. I remember the Prime Minister appearing on TV and saying | :14:52. | :14:57. | |
if we voted to leave, we would be leaving the single market. I said | :14:58. | :15:03. | |
that on the Andrew Marr programme prior to the vote taking place on | :15:04. | :15:09. | |
June the 23rd. When the Prime Minister said that, we needed to | :15:10. | :15:13. | |
take heed and people knew that. The reason he said it was to frighten | :15:14. | :15:23. | |
people not to vote for leaving the European Union. I will make more | :15:24. | :15:29. | |
progress. Despite all those threats the British people, in their | :15:30. | :15:33. | |
considered opinion, decided to vote to leave the European Union. In my | :15:34. | :15:39. | |
own constituency it was about 57% who voted to leave. In all the | :15:40. | :15:43. | |
constituencies in Lancashire they voted to leave the European Union. | :15:44. | :15:52. | |
In the north-west of England on a 70% turnout, so it was not a thin | :15:53. | :15:59. | |
turnout, it was 54% who decided to vote to leave. It reminds me of the | :16:00. | :16:03. | |
referendum we had on Welsh devolution. The turnout was 50.1%. | :16:04. | :16:17. | |
Of that 50.1%, 49.7% said no, 50.3% said yes. And what did we do? We did | :16:18. | :16:26. | |
not shout for a second referendum. We did not even call for a recount. | :16:27. | :16:35. | |
Is it too late? But the fact is we accepted the result on a very thin | :16:36. | :16:43. | |
turnout and a very close result. And that is what is expected of us on | :16:44. | :16:49. | |
this occasion. I from this very position condemn that pamphlet that | :16:50. | :16:54. | |
cost ?9.3 million that got sent to every household. I was one of the | :16:55. | :16:59. | |
people who did not send it back to Downing Street, I have kept it as a | :17:00. | :17:05. | |
souvenir. On the back of it it did say, this is your decision, the | :17:06. | :17:09. | |
government will implement what you decide. Therefore I think the onus | :17:10. | :17:15. | |
is on us. If we believe on democracy we have to accept the verdict of the | :17:16. | :17:23. | |
British people on a 52% versus 48% basis and give the Prime Minister | :17:24. | :17:27. | |
the power to trigger Article 50. I want to mention one other thing, | :17:28. | :17:32. | |
which is the European Union citizens living and working in this country. | :17:33. | :17:36. | |
I recognise fully the trauma that many must feel as if they will be | :17:37. | :17:43. | |
asked to leave. I think the idea that we are going to round up EU | :17:44. | :17:48. | |
nationals and put them on the next Ryanair or easyJet back to whichever | :17:49. | :17:55. | |
country they came from as being bonkers, as being something that | :17:56. | :18:00. | |
would be quite despicable, and something which we ought to clarify | :18:01. | :18:03. | |
as quickly as possible that this is not going to be asked of them. EU | :18:04. | :18:10. | |
citizens are vital part of our community, they work in our | :18:11. | :18:14. | |
communities, many of us are married to them, they are friends, families | :18:15. | :18:18. | |
and colleagues. Would my honourable friend agree that we should give | :18:19. | :18:23. | |
these people who have contributed so much legal certainty as soon as | :18:24. | :18:28. | |
possible? I totally agree with the honourable lady and I also have | :18:29. | :18:32. | |
cognizance of the British people who live in the south of Spain and | :18:33. | :18:36. | |
worked and lived in Madrid, Frankfurt and in various other parts | :18:37. | :18:40. | |
of the EU. They are going through the same trauma that EU citizens | :18:41. | :18:46. | |
are. I am time-limited. They are going through the exact same trauma | :18:47. | :18:52. | |
that EU citizens are going to hear. As I understand it, the British | :18:53. | :18:56. | |
Prime Minister has already made it clear that as soon as the rest of | :18:57. | :19:01. | |
the EU says yes, whoever makes this particular decision, then she has | :19:02. | :19:07. | |
already said that is exactly what will happen with EU citizens living | :19:08. | :19:14. | |
here. I think it is cruel for the commission to say they will not | :19:15. | :19:19. | |
clarify the position until we trigger Article 50 and the | :19:20. | :19:23. | |
negotiations begin, as if these citizens, these human beings, should | :19:24. | :19:30. | |
That is cruel and inhumane. What I That is cruel and inhumane. What I | :19:31. | :19:34. | |
would ask of my own government is if they keep up this position, that at | :19:35. | :19:40. | |
least this is the first thing we negotiate as part of the negotiation | :19:41. | :19:45. | |
process and that as soon as an agreement comes, which has got to be | :19:46. | :19:50. | |
a humane thing to do, that we announce it straightaway and we do | :19:51. | :19:54. | |
not wait until the two-year process is finished. We let them know that | :19:55. | :20:03. | |
is exactly what we intend to do. The prospect of Germany, who has taken | :20:04. | :20:06. | |
in 1 million refugees from the Middle East actually rounding up | :20:07. | :20:13. | |
British citizens and sending them home seems a remarkable sight and | :20:14. | :20:18. | |
thing to think. This must be clarified as quickly as possible. | :20:19. | :20:23. | |
The last thing I would like to say in conclusion is this. I do believe | :20:24. | :20:29. | |
in democracy and I actually love Europe. I love my European | :20:30. | :20:34. | |
neighbours, I am a member of the Council of Europe and I visit on a | :20:35. | :20:40. | |
regular basis. Last week I was in Strasbourg at one of their sessions. | :20:41. | :20:46. | |
But the British people have voted to leave the European Union. All I | :20:47. | :20:50. | |
would say is, the simple choice is for those who are going to deny that | :20:51. | :20:56. | |
verdict of the British people would appear to love the EU more than they | :20:57. | :21:00. | |
love democracy and I think that is a dangerous thing. I quite enjoyed the | :21:01. | :21:08. | |
honourable gentleman's speech until that last bit. Today we debate not | :21:09. | :21:14. | |
just the shortest of short bills, but our intention to set in train | :21:15. | :21:20. | |
enormous constitutional, legal, political, social and economic | :21:21. | :21:24. | |
changes to our country and yet this was a debate the government did not | :21:25. | :21:29. | |
want us to have. It had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the | :21:30. | :21:32. | |
highest court in the land and ordered to give this sovereign | :21:33. | :21:39. | |
Parliament to have a say. Now a woman is receiving death threats for | :21:40. | :21:45. | |
her travel. The government tried to use the royal prerogative, and abuse | :21:46. | :21:50. | |
the Civil War was fought to eliminate. Everything we have | :21:51. | :21:53. | |
legislated for in the last 40 years through the EU is now up for grabs, | :21:54. | :22:03. | |
writes at Worth, -- rights at work, health and safety, trading rules... | :22:04. | :22:10. | |
This list of all the rights that we will lose, can't we make all these | :22:11. | :22:18. | |
decisions in this place for our country for the benefit of our | :22:19. | :22:23. | |
people? We do not need other people to make our rules. When we joined | :22:24. | :22:29. | |
the European Union we pooled parts of our sovereignty so we could have | :22:30. | :22:35. | |
a bigger bang for our buck that we spent, particularly on issues like | :22:36. | :22:39. | |
the environment. I do not know whether the honourable gentleman has | :22:40. | :22:44. | |
noticed, but pollution does not stop at national borders. The most loose | :22:45. | :22:48. | |
in a tree of Eurosceptic nostalgics in the Tory party dream of a divorce | :22:49. | :22:54. | |
with no real consequences, economic or otherwise, a trade deal swiftly | :22:55. | :23:00. | |
down which grants the UK all the benefits of EU membership with none | :23:01. | :23:06. | |
of the costs. Some of them even imagine a new British Empire, | :23:07. | :23:08. | |
forgetting times have almost certainly moved on. They are content | :23:09. | :23:16. | |
to gamble with 50% of our trade and 100% of our prosperity. I argued | :23:17. | :23:21. | |
passionately against the isolationist league side in the | :23:22. | :23:27. | |
referendum to full-back against the magical thinking that underlay many | :23:28. | :23:31. | |
of the arguments put forward by the other side. I disapproved of the | :23:32. | :23:37. | |
downright lies on the NHS, cynically perpetrated by the leading lights of | :23:38. | :23:41. | |
the league campaign and repudiated by them the day after their victory. | :23:42. | :23:47. | |
Who will ever forget that bus, now a byword for cynical manipulation? The | :23:48. | :23:52. | |
Wirral voted narrowly in favour of remaining, a tribute to its good | :23:53. | :23:57. | |
judgment, along with its record of returning a full deck of Labour MPs | :23:58. | :24:02. | |
at the last election. We are where we are and it is undoubtedly the | :24:03. | :24:06. | |
case of the country as a whole voted 52-48 to leave. This referendum | :24:07. | :24:14. | |
split the country down the middle and a government interested in | :24:15. | :24:17. | |
building a decent future for our country would have sought to bring | :24:18. | :24:22. | |
us together. But this government has done the opposite. It has chosen to | :24:23. | :24:27. | |
interpret the results of the referendum as a victory for Nigel | :24:28. | :24:32. | |
Farage's very own version of Little Britain. First there were the | :24:33. | :24:36. | |
xenophobic speeches at Tory conference announcing the creation | :24:37. | :24:41. | |
of lists of foreign workers. There were months of confusion about the | :24:42. | :24:45. | |
nature of the government's plan. Then there was the Prime Minister's | :24:46. | :24:52. | |
speech and a promise of us and an yet unpublished white paper. They | :24:53. | :24:58. | |
have threatened to create a low regulation Britain with fewer civil | :24:59. | :25:03. | |
and workers' rights guaranteed in law, I'm doing decades of social | :25:04. | :25:07. | |
progress. That is unacceptable on these benches and I believe it is | :25:08. | :25:13. | |
unacceptable to the British public. The narrow majority of British | :25:14. | :25:17. | |
voters that cast their ballots for Britain to leave the EU did not have | :25:18. | :25:24. | |
in their mind's by a libertarian, fantasy state as their end goal. | :25:25. | :25:28. | |
They were told they could expect more money for crucial services and | :25:29. | :25:33. | |
for sensible controls on immigration. In reality they | :25:34. | :25:38. | |
continue to get massive cuts to the NHS, policing, local services and | :25:39. | :25:44. | |
schools, as this government's a very cuts continue to decimate our public | :25:45. | :25:50. | |
services and care for the elderly. I endorse the amendments tabled in the | :25:51. | :25:54. | |
name of my right honourable friend the Leader of the Opposition. They | :25:55. | :25:58. | |
will make the best of this difficult situation. I know that opposition | :25:59. | :26:03. | |
amendments, no matter how sensible, rarely get accepted by the | :26:04. | :26:08. | |
government, especially this one that seems obsessed with bringing about | :26:09. | :26:12. | |
the most extreme Brexit possible. Labour will fight to get the best | :26:13. | :26:19. | |
possible Brexit deal. I survey members in Wallasey this weekend and | :26:20. | :26:21. | |
received responses from a substantial number of them. To the | :26:22. | :26:27. | |
hundreds that responded I say, thank you for shaving my approach to this | :26:28. | :26:31. | |
most difficult of votes. A huge majority thought this bill would | :26:32. | :26:36. | |
make them and their families worse off. Over half. We should be aware | :26:37. | :26:49. | |
of the government's motives. As Democratic politicians we have to | :26:50. | :26:53. | |
recognise the result of the referendum, but that does not give | :26:54. | :26:56. | |
this government carte blanche for an extreme Brexit. It does not give the | :26:57. | :27:03. | |
government permission to destroy the social settlement and make our | :27:04. | :27:05. | |
society poor and even more precarious. Labour's amendments | :27:06. | :27:12. | |
guaranteeing rights at work," equality rights and environmental | :27:13. | :27:15. | |
standards that we take for granted now are crucial if this bill is to | :27:16. | :27:20. | |
be unacceptable and to help bring our divided country together. Rather | :27:21. | :27:25. | |
than presenting this has with the most perfunctory bill possible, I | :27:26. | :27:30. | |
wish we had a government that wanted to engage in Parliament in what will | :27:31. | :27:32. | |
be one of the most crucial Madam Deputy Speaker, we swap the | :27:33. | :27:53. | |
known for the unknown in one of the most volatile political eras I have | :27:54. | :28:00. | |
experienced in my lifetime. We throw away established relationships, | :28:01. | :28:03. | |
economic connections, including deeply integrated European Supply | :28:04. | :28:07. | |
chains and cultural affinities. We alienate our closest allies in | :28:08. | :28:12. | |
perilous times. We have a divided and angry country. Social injustice | :28:13. | :28:17. | |
and poverty is soaring. Many regions are being neglected. It's them I am | :28:18. | :28:22. | |
in politics to defend. Defend them I will. George Freeman. This time last | :28:23. | :28:32. | |
year I voted for the EU referendum on the basis I would be bound by the | :28:33. | :28:36. | |
result. Despite watching over many years with a heaviness of heart the | :28:37. | :28:42. | |
growing failure of the EU to create an entrepreneurial economy, on | :28:43. | :28:44. | |
balance I thought we were better off staying in to fight for a reformed | :28:45. | :28:51. | |
21st-century EU. As life science Minister for a ?225 million sector, | :28:52. | :28:55. | |
I felt I had to speak for their interests. I campaigned along with | :28:56. | :29:00. | |
many colleagues for remain. In my constituency I offered constituents | :29:01. | :29:02. | |
the choice and actively gave them the choice, inviting the honourable | :29:03. | :29:09. | |
friend forward Tim and Clapton up to offer their side of the debate. We | :29:10. | :29:16. | |
put the debate, and I lost it. Our constituents voted to leave the | :29:17. | :29:20. | |
European Union. My constituents voted and this country voted in one | :29:21. | :29:23. | |
of the biggest acts of democracy we have seen for centuries. As my | :29:24. | :29:28. | |
honourable friend the member for Brookstone said earlier, we are not | :29:29. | :29:32. | |
delegates, as Edmund Burke said, we are not slaves to our constituents, | :29:33. | :29:38. | |
but I believe the one thing parliamentarians should never give | :29:39. | :29:41. | |
away is the sovereignty invested in us by the people we serve and the | :29:42. | :29:44. | |
truth is that successive parliaments in recent decades have done that, | :29:45. | :29:47. | |
not least in the Maastricht and Lisbon Treaty 's, fuelling public | :29:48. | :29:51. | |
anger and disillusionment in political elites and giving away | :29:52. | :29:56. | |
powers that were never there in the first place. I believe we were right | :29:57. | :29:59. | |
to give the people there say, and we'll have to recognise the | :30:00. | :30:02. | |
importance of the vote and the anger expressed. I hope he won't mind me | :30:03. | :30:08. | |
saying that he fought with great nobility and grace and was eloquent | :30:09. | :30:12. | |
at all times. If only both sides of the campaign, and I do mean both | :30:13. | :30:16. | |
sides, had conducted themselves in the way he did, it would have been a | :30:17. | :30:20. | |
far happier referendum campaign. I thank you for that gracious | :30:21. | :30:26. | |
intervention. By winning back the sovereignty of this house, we must | :30:27. | :30:29. | |
use it and show the house is worthy of that sovereignty and we are | :30:30. | :30:32. | |
capable of acting in the interests of all the people we all serve. | :30:33. | :30:36. | |
Churchill said once, courage is what it takes to stand up and speak, and | :30:37. | :30:40. | |
courage is also what it takes sometimes to sit down and listen. In | :30:41. | :30:44. | |
the referendum we all stood up and spoke passionately for our | :30:45. | :30:48. | |
respective sides. Now it's time to do the other courageous thing and | :30:49. | :30:50. | |
listen to the will of the British people. We have to make Brexit work. | :30:51. | :30:56. | |
For the 48 as well as the 52%, for London as well as the north. For the | :30:57. | :31:01. | |
white and blue-collar workers, for Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales | :31:02. | :31:05. | |
and England. We need to deliver a British exit, one that respects the | :31:06. | :31:11. | |
European neighbours and wants us to be a good neighbour, and once, as | :31:12. | :31:16. | |
the Prime Minister made clear in a recent speech, asked BA active | :31:17. | :31:22. | |
European ally and collaborator outside the political institutions | :31:23. | :31:27. | |
of the EU, but members of the European community of nations and | :31:28. | :31:30. | |
neighbours. Proper Democrats must not say the Brexit vote was | :31:31. | :31:35. | |
illegitimate. The Brexit voters were ignorant or unqualified. How | :31:36. | :31:41. | |
condescending! Do we say that when a voter Labour or Ukip? No. Week all | :31:42. | :31:47. | |
accept the result, as we should now. Although the EU referendum was, in | :31:48. | :31:52. | |
my opinion, a low point in political discourse, remember that included | :31:53. | :31:57. | |
the appalling murder of one of our colleagues by a deranged neo-Nazi, | :31:58. | :32:00. | |
the core underlying mandate from the British people was crystal clear. To | :32:01. | :32:04. | |
the extent it wasn't crystal clear, it is our job is elected Democrats | :32:05. | :32:09. | |
to bring the crystal clarity to that in our debates in this house. All we | :32:10. | :32:14. | |
are doing today is giving the Prime Minister and her government the | :32:15. | :32:18. | |
authority to start the negotiation on the terms on which we leave the | :32:19. | :32:22. | |
European Union. In many ways, the real debate is not this afternoon, | :32:23. | :32:26. | |
is when we discuss the terms of that negotiation in this house over the | :32:27. | :32:29. | |
next two years and ultimately in discussing the package she brings | :32:30. | :32:37. | |
back to us. Scotland is an equal partner in this United Kingdom of | :32:38. | :32:42. | |
nations, to quote the former Prime Minister. Howard, a massive vote in | :32:43. | :32:48. | |
Scotland to remain and a narrow vote in England to leave results in | :32:49. | :32:53. | |
Scotland leaving on England's terms? One of the most interesting | :32:54. | :32:57. | |
judgments of the Supreme Court is one the media haven't picked up, is | :32:58. | :33:02. | |
that Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are bound by this sovereign | :33:03. | :33:07. | |
house in which they participate in. The truth is, the real challenge now | :33:08. | :33:12. | |
falls to our new Prime Minister Theresa May who has stepped in to | :33:13. | :33:16. | |
lead a government, committed to Brexit, and also to tackle domestic | :33:17. | :33:23. | |
policies which have fuelled... Order, order, I must protect the | :33:24. | :33:29. | |
honourable gentleman. Mr Freeman. Thank you. Our Prime Minister has | :33:30. | :33:33. | |
stepped in to lead a government committed to Brexit and also to | :33:34. | :33:37. | |
tackle domestic policies which have fuelled the wider disillusionment | :33:38. | :33:40. | |
that vote signified and it's my privilege to work with that team. It | :33:41. | :33:45. | |
now faces an extraordinary political challenge, to negotiate Brexit and | :33:46. | :33:50. | |
the most important political deal in a hundred years. To negotiate new | :33:51. | :33:53. | |
trade deals with countries around the world and to continue the urgent | :33:54. | :33:57. | |
task of social economic and domestic reform to tackle the structural | :33:58. | :34:00. | |
deficit and shape our old-fashioned public services and tackle the | :34:01. | :34:07. | |
social and economic exclusion. The Brexit negotiations ahead are | :34:08. | :34:13. | |
perhaps the greatest test of British peacetime negotiations in a century. | :34:14. | :34:18. | |
The burden on the respective secretaries of state is heavy. To | :34:19. | :34:21. | |
succeed we must put aside many of the difference is that divide the | :34:22. | :34:24. | |
house and instead work together to make sure we get the best deal for | :34:25. | :34:28. | |
the country we all serve, and our interests are not served by | :34:29. | :34:32. | |
requesting that negotiation be carried out on Twitter. At a time | :34:33. | :34:35. | |
when trust in politics has never been so low, we have an opportunity | :34:36. | :34:39. | |
to restore public trust in mainstream politics, not to score | :34:40. | :34:46. | |
easy points, but to show we are worthy invested in us. And in the | :34:47. | :34:49. | |
name of which the Brexiteers have campaigned. The Brexit deal must be | :34:50. | :34:53. | |
ambitious for Britain. A Brexit where we can once again control our | :34:54. | :34:58. | |
own laws, strengthen the union, protect workers' rights and strike | :34:59. | :35:02. | |
new trade deals around the world. For Scotland's too. To do this we | :35:03. | :35:06. | |
must continue to engage with the world and cherish British values. As | :35:07. | :35:10. | |
the Prime Minister made clear in her electrifying recent speech, which I | :35:11. | :35:14. | |
would encourage the honourable member opposite chuntering from a | :35:15. | :35:21. | |
sedentary position to read, bridging the gap between the UK and the US | :35:22. | :35:27. | |
will be one of the key tasks of international relations for many | :35:28. | :35:30. | |
decades to come. I believe our Prime Minister has set out to do for | :35:31. | :35:33. | |
markets and the West what the great Lady Thatcher did for defence of the | :35:34. | :35:37. | |
West. Last week she showed she is more than up to leading that. It | :35:38. | :35:43. | |
might not always be easy, but it's for the best. I work she's made an | :35:44. | :35:49. | |
encouraging start with President Trump. He has also been elected. | :35:50. | :35:54. | |
While he campaigned on America first, the signals are that in terms | :35:55. | :35:58. | |
of foreign policy, for Americans it is now Britain first and we should | :35:59. | :36:03. | |
welcome that. When the Prime Minister this week refused three | :36:04. | :36:07. | |
times to condemn an obvious breach, not just of this country's values, | :36:08. | :36:12. | |
but of any liberal democracy's values, what part of great British | :36:13. | :36:16. | |
values was she standing up for? I think the people in this country | :36:17. | :36:21. | |
come in the way they rewarded the Prime Minister, by the opinion | :36:22. | :36:25. | |
polls, know the answer to that question. We need a Brexit that | :36:26. | :36:31. | |
works for the UK, the EU and the USA because the west faces major tests | :36:32. | :36:34. | |
and it's in all our interests to make it work. It's not just a | :36:35. | :36:39. | |
cultural debate, it's a hard-headed economic negotiation. Our | :36:40. | :36:47. | |
diplomatic, military power in the West is built on economic success. I | :36:48. | :36:52. | |
am looking forward to the future for this country. Britain as a crucible | :36:53. | :36:57. | |
of the deregulated innovation economy leading the world in the | :36:58. | :37:01. | |
challenges of the 21st-century. Blake Green. Thank you very much, | :37:02. | :37:09. | |
Madam Deputy Speaker. Other speeches today have been eloquent, | :37:10. | :37:12. | |
passionate, constitutionally well-informed. This one will not be | :37:13. | :37:17. | |
that. I want this speech to be about and addressed directly to my | :37:18. | :37:23. | |
constituents. Residents of Trafford voted to remain in the European | :37:24. | :37:28. | |
Union, reflecting, I believe, our long and proud industrial history of | :37:29. | :37:35. | |
trade, export and innovation. Trafford Park in my constituency was | :37:36. | :37:39. | |
the first, and I think remains the largest industrial estate in Europe, | :37:40. | :37:45. | |
home to many domestic, European and international businesses, some of | :37:46. | :37:47. | |
whom have been based their many decades. We welcome your Mac and | :37:48. | :37:54. | |
international businesses and manufacturers who have established | :37:55. | :37:58. | |
sizeable operations elsewhere in the constituency. They make a | :37:59. | :38:03. | |
significant contribution, nationally and locally, to the economy and to | :38:04. | :38:08. | |
employment. They are successful, thriving, and many have been very | :38:09. | :38:12. | |
clear with me that our leaving the European Union will make doing | :38:13. | :38:16. | |
business more complex, uncertain and difficult. They highlight the | :38:17. | :38:24. | |
importance of access to the EU market, and skilled EU workers, of | :38:25. | :38:29. | |
consistent regulatory standards, of avoiding tariff barriers. They are | :38:30. | :38:35. | |
also adaptable, however. I don't say that on leaving the European Union, | :38:36. | :38:41. | |
their businesses will fail or will be unable to adapt to new | :38:42. | :38:45. | |
circumstances. But what they do look for, as far as possible, is | :38:46. | :38:52. | |
continuity and certainty. And what they say to me today is that neither | :38:53. | :38:56. | |
of those appears as a result of this bill. What we know is not what we | :38:57. | :39:03. | |
will have, but what we will not have. Single market access is out. | :39:04. | :39:09. | |
So is full membership of the customs union. In their place come vague | :39:10. | :39:14. | |
aspirations of new deals and arrangements with the EU and other | :39:15. | :39:19. | |
countries. But they completely fail to recognise our aspirations might | :39:20. | :39:24. | |
not match those of our other partners. On the 17th of January | :39:25. | :39:29. | |
when the secretary of state came to this house to make a statement on | :39:30. | :39:32. | |
the Prime Minister's speech, I asked what he thought would happen in the | :39:33. | :39:36. | |
gap between current trading arrangements ending and new ones | :39:37. | :39:40. | |
being negotiated. He suggested there would be no such gap. Madam Deputy | :39:41. | :39:46. | |
Speaker, I think that's fanciful. It's a head in the sand attitude to | :39:47. | :39:52. | |
negotiations. We have to recognise that leaving the EU will create gaps | :39:53. | :39:58. | |
and shocks in our economy. Shocks can be managed, but not by outright | :39:59. | :40:04. | |
denial of their existence. With this bill we are being asked to buy a pig | :40:05. | :40:11. | |
in a poke, being asked to vote to trigger the Brexit process with no | :40:12. | :40:14. | |
evidence at all that there is a plan in place to protect our economy and | :40:15. | :40:19. | |
our constituents. Important protections and standards all remain | :40:20. | :40:25. | |
to be secured, whether that's in relation to our economy, trading | :40:26. | :40:31. | |
relationships, or security. To be asked now to endorse an exit process | :40:32. | :40:36. | |
of any answers to those important questions are still so vague doesn't | :40:37. | :40:41. | |
bode well for the outcome. In fact, the position with this bill is so | :40:42. | :40:46. | |
uncertain, that I find it impossible today to vote for it. I will be | :40:47. | :40:51. | |
abstaining on the vote tomorrow, and if the government cannot allay my | :40:52. | :40:55. | |
concerns during the remainder of this bill's passage through | :40:56. | :40:58. | |
Parliament such that I can be sure my constituents' interests are | :40:59. | :41:03. | |
detected, at the final vote I will oppose it. In saying that, and in | :41:04. | :41:10. | |
concluding, I want to address the argument about respecting the result | :41:11. | :41:14. | |
of the referendum. I have thought really deeply about this, as I seek | :41:15. | :41:19. | |
to balance the wishes of voters in Trafford with the national result in | :41:20. | :41:24. | |
a referendum for which I freely acknowledge I voted. Some of my | :41:25. | :41:29. | |
constituents who voted to remain in the European Union have told me they | :41:30. | :41:33. | |
now feel we have no choice but to accept the result. Others do not | :41:34. | :41:38. | |
think that. And I think that I was sent here by my constituents to | :41:39. | :41:44. | |
represent their interests as I see best, and I am falling back, Madam | :41:45. | :41:49. | |
Deputy Speaker, on my conscience. Everything I have done in politics | :41:50. | :41:52. | |
and in public policy has been informed by what I believe to be the | :41:53. | :41:57. | |
most important priority, what is in the interests not just of my | :41:58. | :42:01. | |
constituents today, but of future generations. And I do not believe | :42:02. | :42:08. | |
that future generations are well served by Willie aspirations to | :42:09. | :42:12. | |
address the economic, social and security needs of their futures. | :42:13. | :42:17. | |
They are not well served by turning our back on maximum access to the | :42:18. | :42:22. | |
single market. They are not well served by the absence of detail on | :42:23. | :42:26. | |
rights, protections and security. They are not well served by | :42:27. | :42:30. | |
ministers' complacent optimism or lazy promises. The government could | :42:31. | :42:35. | |
make that these deficiencies if it would accept many of the amendments | :42:36. | :42:39. | |
that have been tabled to this bill, but unless that happens, we should | :42:40. | :42:45. | |
not proceed to trigger Article 50. In my view, the Right Honourable | :42:46. | :42:49. | |
member for Sheffield Hallam was right to say that the judgment of | :42:50. | :42:54. | |
future generations is what must guide us in making a decision on | :42:55. | :42:58. | |
this legislation. We will be judged by Ben on the deal that they | :42:59. | :43:00. | |
inherit. Madame Deputy Speaker, it is my real | :43:01. | :43:12. | |
privilege to speak in this historic debate this afternoon. There have | :43:13. | :43:15. | |
been many passionate contributions made in the course of the debate, | :43:16. | :43:19. | |
including that of the Honourable Lady, the member for Stretford and | :43:20. | :43:24. | |
Urmston, who has clearly thought about this issue a lot, who clearly | :43:25. | :43:29. | |
has a principled position. It is one I do not share but I do respect her | :43:30. | :43:34. | |
position. A lot of the contributions we have heard mirror the exact | :43:35. | :43:38. | |
debate we have -- we had in the country last June, where people put | :43:39. | :43:42. | |
their arguments passionately on both sides of the debate. It was a | :43:43. | :43:46. | |
privilege for me to engage with people, to talk to them on both | :43:47. | :43:49. | |
sides, about their concerns, there are reasons for voting to leave, | :43:50. | :43:53. | |
people on the other side of the argument of voting to remain. And so | :43:54. | :43:59. | |
I recognise there are sincerely held points of view, not just in this | :44:00. | :44:03. | |
House but across the country. One word that has been used a love this | :44:04. | :44:07. | |
afternoon has been that of judgment. Lots of references back to Burke in | :44:08. | :44:13. | |
1774. But my judgment is plain to see. I use my judgment in standing | :44:14. | :44:19. | |
on the manifesto that I stood on in 2015. I use my judgment in voting | :44:20. | :44:27. | |
for the referendum. And I use my judgment in advocating that my | :44:28. | :44:30. | |
constituents and people across this great country should vote to leave | :44:31. | :44:34. | |
in the referendum itself. But being a member of Parliament is also... I | :44:35. | :44:40. | |
will give way. I think the member forgiving way. Did you use your | :44:41. | :44:45. | |
judgment when it came to standing on a blank piece of paper and putting | :44:46. | :44:50. | |
that to the people in terms of the Leave vote? I know he doesn't care | :44:51. | :44:58. | |
how he -- I know he doesn't care how I use my judgment. I apologise. I | :44:59. | :45:04. | |
wonder if I can ask the member if he considers it a lack of judgment that | :45:05. | :45:10. | |
the campaign than a blank piece of paper in terms of voting Leave? I am | :45:11. | :45:15. | |
grateful for his intervention but I would argue that has probably | :45:16. | :45:20. | |
detained some of the House's time. We clearly stored on a platform that | :45:21. | :45:25. | |
was clear for all to see. I have no intention of raking over the row. I | :45:26. | :45:29. | |
want to focus on the fact that as members of Parliament I believe we | :45:30. | :45:35. | |
have responsibilities in the order of these things is well-established. | :45:36. | :45:38. | |
We have to put the national interest first. In the interest of balance, I | :45:39. | :45:44. | |
am going to talk about two things said in the course of the debate. I | :45:45. | :45:49. | |
thought the honourable member for Shipley was right when he said that | :45:50. | :45:52. | |
all those members who voted to have this referendum in the first place | :45:53. | :45:57. | |
have a duty to deliver on the verdict. On the Remain side, I | :45:58. | :46:01. | |
thought might right honourable friend from Beaconsfield made a very | :46:02. | :46:06. | |
valid point when he said every member of the House has a duty to | :46:07. | :46:11. | |
end the uncertainty. Let's be clear, the debate was had. The engagement | :46:12. | :46:16. | |
was high. The turnout was the highest we have seen for nearly 25 | :46:17. | :46:21. | |
years. And in my own constituency of Corby, the verdict was clear. In | :46:22. | :46:30. | |
Corby, 64.25% voted to leave, in East Northamptonshire, the majority | :46:31. | :46:36. | |
of which I represent, 58.75 voted to leave. Members on both sides of this | :46:37. | :46:40. | |
House have said this motion in train. We used our judgment, not | :46:41. | :46:47. | |
just in voting for the referendum, but in choosing a side and making | :46:48. | :46:50. | |
the arguments. We also judged that we would let the people decide, that | :46:51. | :46:55. | |
we had led the country decide. That is exactly what they did. Now I | :46:56. | :47:01. | |
believe that we have a duty to live up to our responsibilities because | :47:02. | :47:05. | |
we abdicate and tamper with our democratic principles at our peril. | :47:06. | :47:15. | |
Madame Deputy Speaker, how did we get to this point with a motion so | :47:16. | :47:19. | |
-- with the nation so divided? The weekend after the 23rd of July held | :47:20. | :47:25. | |
a -- and advice search -- surgery because there are a lot of European | :47:26. | :47:29. | |
National to live in my constituency. 500 people came to see me to express | :47:30. | :47:37. | |
their distress. That was not just European nationals. I think that | :47:38. | :47:40. | |
said a lot about how many of our communities feel about this | :47:41. | :47:44. | |
question. I'm delighted to have the member for Tottenham next to me | :47:45. | :47:47. | |
because he has taken such a brave stance over the last eight months on | :47:48. | :47:52. | |
this question. If you read his Twitter feed, he has had the most | :47:53. | :47:56. | |
enormous abuse. That has been something which I think has been | :47:57. | :48:00. | |
uncomfortable for those of us we care deeply about race relations, | :48:01. | :48:05. | |
particularly in London and around. I would like also just to talk about | :48:06. | :48:10. | |
the way we have come to this decision-making process. Many of us | :48:11. | :48:14. | |
have come into this House through local got in. As a council leader, | :48:15. | :48:18. | |
if I tried to bring a decision on the basis of a speech and a couple | :48:19. | :48:23. | |
of letters to the local newspaper, my councillors would have handed me | :48:24. | :48:26. | |
out of the council room. And I would have been quite right to tell them | :48:27. | :48:31. | |
that. The chair of my Labour group and secretary would have been | :48:32. | :48:35. | |
hammering me. So I really feel we have not questioned and off both | :48:36. | :48:40. | |
internally, within the major majority party, and I feel that | :48:41. | :48:43. | |
despite our best efforts on the front bench from other parties, we | :48:44. | :48:47. | |
simply haven't had the numbers to hold the government to account on | :48:48. | :48:52. | |
crucial votes. And that is of course a great regret. I want to briefly | :48:53. | :48:57. | |
also talk about the economy. We know that the statistics are not quite | :48:58. | :49:04. | |
there yet. But household debt is up 13%. We also know that our currency | :49:05. | :49:08. | |
is dropping and that the drop of a currency is an outside estimation of | :49:09. | :49:14. | |
our economy. That is a cause for concern. We know when the economy | :49:15. | :49:18. | |
declines, it is not the will of communities who were effected but | :49:19. | :49:25. | |
the poorer ones. -- well off. Mr Farage famously said the social side | :49:26. | :49:30. | |
of the matter was more important than economics. Admitting that being | :49:31. | :49:35. | |
poor could result from leaving the European Union. Somehow I suspect | :49:36. | :49:40. | |
poverty was not apply to Mr Farage, who does not look as if he is | :49:41. | :49:45. | |
getting any poorer. I briefly also wanted to return to an earlier point | :49:46. | :49:49. | |
in the debate, which the member for Chingford and Woodford Green made | :49:50. | :49:55. | |
about Mr Spinelli, who wrote about nationalism and the rise of | :49:56. | :49:59. | |
nationalism. I do believe this is a cause of concern. 100 years ago, my | :50:00. | :50:03. | |
great uncle died at Passchendaele. And when I take my children to see | :50:04. | :50:08. | |
his grave and try to explain why he died and what he died for, I realise | :50:09. | :50:15. | |
that talking about values like liberty and trying to work together | :50:16. | :50:18. | |
with people who you don't get on with, and I think that -- back about | :50:19. | :50:27. | |
the years of prosperity we have had. I think we are in a dangerous place | :50:28. | :50:32. | |
internationally and I worry about our realignment with the US where | :50:33. | :50:35. | |
they are perhaps not as open to free trade as we would like them to be, | :50:36. | :50:40. | |
or to different ideas and different people who make up this incredible | :50:41. | :50:45. | |
globe. I want to express fear and concern that leaving the European | :50:46. | :50:49. | |
Union may also lead to a poorer future, not just for jobs, not just | :50:50. | :50:53. | |
for the economy, not just because the economy is going down, but also | :50:54. | :50:57. | |
because I think we are making this decision for young people. Many of | :50:58. | :51:02. | |
us voted twice on whether 16 to 18-year-olds should have the right | :51:03. | :51:06. | |
to participate in the referendum. Sadly we were defeated twice on that | :51:07. | :51:10. | |
despite the advice from the other place. And I think that's a terrible | :51:11. | :51:16. | |
pity. I feel that they think that we're slamming the door on their | :51:17. | :51:23. | |
future. And furthermore, I am a strong unionist. I feel sad that I | :51:24. | :51:26. | |
think it's going to have a detrimental effect on Scotland, | :51:27. | :51:31. | |
Wales, on Northern Ireland. And I think there are a great many | :51:32. | :51:33. | |
questions that have not been answered. We haven't been given any | :51:34. | :51:38. | |
information. We have not been brought in on that wonderful secret | :51:39. | :51:41. | |
negotiation that is happening. I don't feel quite ready to trust. I | :51:42. | :51:47. | |
think the best power I news is my vote. Tomorrow I will not be voting | :51:48. | :51:52. | |
to support the second reading because I think that's the only way | :51:53. | :51:55. | |
to make the government listen, that these concerns many of us hold, we | :51:56. | :52:00. | |
hold them very dearly. It is not just about jobs and the economy, it | :52:01. | :52:04. | |
is about our children, our grandchildren and about peace and | :52:05. | :52:09. | |
prosperity. It's a great pleasure to follow the | :52:10. | :52:16. | |
honourable lady for Hornsey and Wood Green, who speaks with total | :52:17. | :52:19. | |
sincerity. I obviously do not agree with her analysis of the economy and | :52:20. | :52:24. | |
I obviously do not agree that to vote against Article 50, but they | :52:25. | :52:29. | |
are absolutely respect sincerity in making that decision. And I think | :52:30. | :52:37. | |
that's one of the important parts about today's debate, it is about | :52:38. | :52:42. | |
individual members making up their mind. If you go to a conservative | :52:43. | :52:48. | |
selection, one of the questions you are asked, what would you put first, | :52:49. | :52:55. | |
country, constituency or party? The answer is country first, | :52:56. | :53:00. | |
constituency second, party third. But happily, in most cases, that her | :53:01. | :53:05. | |
lines. It certainly aligns now. And I am very delighted with what the | :53:06. | :53:11. | |
government has done. I think the government was right. I'm going to | :53:12. | :53:18. | |
start again. I think the government was wrong but I understand why they | :53:19. | :53:24. | |
tried to go via the Royal per. They took the view that this house had | :53:25. | :53:31. | |
delegated to the British people the decision of whether we should stay | :53:32. | :53:36. | |
or leave the European Union. Therefore, once that decision was | :53:37. | :53:40. | |
made, they thought they could trigger Article 50 through the Royal | :53:41. | :53:46. | |
per that. In I remember the previous Prime Minister saying he would | :53:47. | :53:49. | |
trigger Article 50 the day after the vote. I argued against that | :53:50. | :53:57. | |
privately. I said we should have a Parliamentary process. We should | :53:58. | :54:01. | |
have a bill in Parliament. And I actually introduced a Private | :54:02. | :54:06. | |
Members' Bill to do exactly that, to trigger Article 50 by the 31st of | :54:07. | :54:09. | |
March. The only reason it did not get a second reading was that the | :54:10. | :54:17. | |
Labour deputy chief whip Badjeck -- objective. I am very pleased now | :54:18. | :54:20. | |
that the Labour Party has taken a much more different line. I thought | :54:21. | :54:27. | |
the Shadow minister who spoke for the Labour Party actually got it | :54:28. | :54:33. | |
rather right. Trigger Article 50 because that's what the British | :54:34. | :54:38. | |
people voted for. Then let's have full Parliamentary scrutiny of the | :54:39. | :54:44. | |
bill. No bill goes through this Parliament, the great repeal act or | :54:45. | :54:50. | |
anything else, will benefit from Parliamentary process. It may well | :54:51. | :54:54. | |
be next week this will benefit from some amendment or other being | :54:55. | :55:00. | |
approved. I do not know. But it benefits from full Parliamentary | :55:01. | :55:05. | |
scrutiny. But what I wanted to talk about, Madame Deputy Speaker, and I | :55:06. | :55:08. | |
apologise for wearing the hideous tie again, it has come out | :55:09. | :55:16. | |
retirement for today, tomorrow and three days next week. Were this | :55:17. | :55:24. | |
House somehow to vote not to trigger Article 50, I would have to wear the | :55:25. | :55:28. | |
tie for a lot longer. That may change some votes on the other side. | :55:29. | :55:36. | |
The honourable lady who spoke before mentioned it was very difficult to | :55:37. | :55:39. | |
get on with some people and work together. As a founding member of | :55:40. | :55:44. | |
go, a cross-party group that campaigned to leave, I know exactly | :55:45. | :55:49. | |
what she means. I had to work with people from the Labour Party, people | :55:50. | :55:56. | |
from the DUP and people from Ukip, and even more difficult, people from | :55:57. | :56:01. | |
my own party, to try and get us all to agree to put party politics to | :56:02. | :56:07. | |
one side. And it was an amazing feat, as we toured pants down the | :56:08. | :56:12. | |
country, to find that people who could not stand each other... That | :56:13. | :56:20. | |
is just the Tory party, as you say! That they could actually work | :56:21. | :56:23. | |
together and produce something in the national interest. I look across | :56:24. | :56:27. | |
the chamber and see the honourable member for a Vauxhall. What an | :56:28. | :56:32. | |
outstanding parliamentarian. She put the country first. And I find it's | :56:33. | :56:38. | |
difficult and of all those years ago to be in the Conservative Party when | :56:39. | :56:43. | |
the Conservative Party was absolutely for the EU and we were | :56:44. | :56:47. | |
idiots to request a referendum. It might be much more difficult to be | :56:48. | :56:51. | |
in the Labour Party and campaign. Congratulations that those people in | :56:52. | :56:54. | |
the Labour Party who put their country first. | :56:55. | :57:01. | |
I also say to Nigel Farage, I think he campaigned for something he | :57:02. | :57:08. | |
believed in passionately, and when I worked with him, he told, if you | :57:09. | :57:18. | |
like, the Go line. Four people decided policy, the Honourable | :57:19. | :57:22. | |
member for Vauxhall, myself, the Honourable member for Corby and | :57:23. | :57:26. | |
Nigel Farage. We all managed, despite different views, to work | :57:27. | :57:34. | |
together in the country's interest. I'm actually rather enjoying his | :57:35. | :57:38. | |
speech, but could he then say, if he and the other members of that | :57:39. | :57:45. | |
campaign supported the shameful and outrageous Breaking Point poster? By | :57:46. | :57:51. | |
the time we actually got to the referendum campaign proper, I'm | :57:52. | :57:59. | |
afraid the Go movement Alliance had broken down. I'm sorry if I'm misled | :58:00. | :58:06. | |
the house. I should have said prior to his designation, the Go | :58:07. | :58:10. | |
organisation was united. After that, there went the different way. | :58:11. | :58:16. | |
Touching on the point of immigration, it was always Go's view | :58:17. | :58:20. | |
that European Union citizens in this country prior to the referendum had | :58:21. | :58:25. | |
the right to stay. I personally would have liked the government to | :58:26. | :58:29. | |
do that unilaterally. I completely understand why they haven't done it, | :58:30. | :58:34. | |
because they want to protect our citizens abroad. Whichever way you | :58:35. | :58:38. | |
look at it, and whichever side of the argument you are on, this was an | :58:39. | :58:44. | |
extraordinary democratic exercise. And the great thing now is the focus | :58:45. | :58:52. | |
of the country is back here in this sovereign parliament, where we can | :58:53. | :58:56. | |
make the decisions. And to the Honourable members on the opposite | :58:57. | :59:01. | |
benches, sometime in the future, you will be on these benches, and you | :59:02. | :59:05. | |
will be able to make the laws, you will be able to push them. | :59:06. | :59:08. | |
Hopefully, that will be a long time in the future. Order, order. Code | :59:09. | :59:15. | |
the Honourable gentlemen please say, they will be able to make the laws. | :59:16. | :59:22. | |
I will change my mind. They will never have the chance to make the | :59:23. | :59:28. | |
laws. LAUGHTER Chose Steve Evans. Thank you, Madam | :59:29. | :59:37. | |
Deputy Speaker. I believe the vote I will cast who will be the most | :59:38. | :59:40. | |
important in my member ship of Parliament. I represent take capital | :59:41. | :59:45. | |
city constituency in Cardiff Central. I campaigned strongly to | :59:46. | :59:50. | |
remain in the EU last year. I voted to remain. My constituents and city | :59:51. | :59:55. | |
overwhelmingly voted to remain too. I have lived in Cardiff for nearly | :59:56. | :00:00. | |
30 years, and the very first person I met when I unloaded my transit van | :00:01. | :00:05. | |
of belongings in 1989 was a French national who had come to Cardiff, | :00:06. | :00:09. | |
lived next door to me, and has become a lifelong friend as well as | :00:10. | :00:13. | |
a successful businessman in my city employing many people. 30 years on I | :00:14. | :00:18. | |
live next door to a German national, a university academic who has made | :00:19. | :00:23. | |
his home in my constituency, married a Welsh woman, and has a young | :00:24. | :00:27. | |
family. He's an expert in his field and is teaching the next generation | :00:28. | :00:33. | |
of experts at one of my three universities in the constituency. | :00:34. | :00:37. | |
Every day in Cardiff Central I meet, speak and listen to residents from | :00:38. | :00:41. | |
Cardiff, across Europe and the globe. Students, doctors, mothers, | :00:42. | :00:50. | |
fathers, children. During the referendum campaign and since, I've | :00:51. | :00:54. | |
had many conversations with worried constituents. They are worried and | :00:55. | :00:59. | |
frightened. Some have been victims of racism and hate crimes. My friend | :01:00. | :01:03. | |
Suzanne came to Cardiff from Germany, and has a young daughter in | :01:04. | :01:07. | |
primary school, who have been spat at and told to go home. They have | :01:08. | :01:13. | |
had bricks and stones thrown at them in the street. This is the climate | :01:14. | :01:18. | |
they and we are living in. I don't believe it's a coincidence of | :01:19. | :01:23. | |
timing. It is a direct consequence of the referendum campaign. The | :01:24. | :01:26. | |
events of the past week in the United States make me more fearful | :01:27. | :01:33. | |
of the rapid developing climate of intolerance in our country. I | :01:34. | :01:37. | |
implore the ministers of the front bench opposite to reassure | :01:38. | :01:40. | |
immediately EU nationals across Britain that they will have their | :01:41. | :01:44. | |
legal status confirmed. But when I look back at the last 12 months | :01:45. | :01:48. | |
leading up to the publication of this bill, one thing stands out for | :01:49. | :01:56. | |
me. That is the reckless for the of the member for Whitney. Where is he | :01:57. | :02:03. | |
now? The -- the former member for Witney. He gambled our country's | :02:04. | :02:10. | |
safety, future prosperity and long-standing European and wider | :02:11. | :02:12. | |
international relationships to save his party and his premiership from | :02:13. | :02:17. | |
imploding. He went to Brussels and miserably failed to negotiate a | :02:18. | :02:22. | |
suitable reform package. He denied 16 and 17-year-olds the right to | :02:23. | :02:27. | |
vote on their future. And then he abandon ship, leaving an almighty | :02:28. | :02:32. | |
mess behind him. I accept the referendum result is to leave, but I | :02:33. | :02:36. | |
do not agree with it. And I certainly do not have to be silent | :02:37. | :02:41. | |
in representing my constituents' views. Just like I accepted at the | :02:42. | :02:47. | |
last general election the benches opposite won a majority, but I do | :02:48. | :02:51. | |
not have to agree with every policy the government seeks to implement | :02:52. | :02:53. | |
and neither will I be silent about that. I will also accept that | :02:54. | :02:58. | |
parliamentary numbers are such that Article 50 will be triggered and | :02:59. | :03:03. | |
Britain will leave the EU, but I believe, and will continue to | :03:04. | :03:07. | |
believe that leaving the EU is a terrible mistake. I cannot reconcile | :03:08. | :03:11. | |
my overwhelming belief that to endorse the step that will make exit | :03:12. | :03:17. | |
inevitable is wrong. I cannot endorse it, particularly when there | :03:18. | :03:21. | |
have been no guarantees before triggering Article 50 about | :03:22. | :03:25. | |
protecting single market access, employment, environmental and | :03:26. | :03:28. | |
consumer rights, security and judicial safeguards and the | :03:29. | :03:31. | |
residential rights of many of my constituents. And no guarantee for | :03:32. | :03:35. | |
the people of Wales, never mind a seat at the negotiating table. So I | :03:36. | :03:40. | |
will not stay silent on the that to speak is to be anti-democratic, | :03:41. | :03:45. | |
while the current Prime Minister leads us to a brutal exit with all | :03:46. | :03:50. | |
the damage that will cause to the people and community I represent. | :03:51. | :03:55. | |
While serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Wales, it reinforced even | :03:56. | :03:58. | |
more strongly to me that what Wales will lose from exiting the EU | :03:59. | :04:01. | |
without the guarantee is that needed. We are net beneficiaries of | :04:02. | :04:08. | |
EU funding to the tune of ?245 million per year. In the last ten | :04:09. | :04:13. | |
years EU funded projects have helped thousands of people into work and | :04:14. | :04:18. | |
gain qualifications. Those projects have helped to create nearly 12,000 | :04:19. | :04:25. | |
businesses and 37,000 new jobs. 68% of our exports go to EU countries | :04:26. | :04:31. | |
and parts of our farming and food production sector rely almost | :04:32. | :04:35. | |
exclusively on the EU market. The single market is the lifeline to our | :04:36. | :04:40. | |
manufacturing industry, what is left of it, in steel, automotive and | :04:41. | :04:45. | |
aerospace, as well as to farming and food production sector. The Prime | :04:46. | :04:48. | |
Minister's decision we are leaving the single market is something I | :04:49. | :04:53. | |
cannot accept. The referendum result last year felt like a body blow. The | :04:54. | :04:59. | |
Prime Minister's speech felt like the life-support machine being | :05:00. | :05:02. | |
switched off and triggering Article 50 will for me feel like a funeral. | :05:03. | :05:06. | |
It's a matter of principle and conscience to me. I must represent | :05:07. | :05:10. | |
the majority of my constituents and share their view, and I will not | :05:11. | :05:17. | |
vote for this bill. James Morris. What a pleasure it is to follow the | :05:18. | :05:22. | |
speech of the member for Cardiff Central. She speaks with great | :05:23. | :05:26. | |
passion. I don't agree with her, but she is clearly wrestling with many | :05:27. | :05:30. | |
issues and has spoken passionately. This is a hugely significant moment | :05:31. | :05:36. | |
for the West Midlands region which I represent. And for this house. It | :05:37. | :05:41. | |
seems quite a long time ago that I was one of the 81 conservatives who | :05:42. | :05:46. | |
went into the lobby to vote in favour of a referendum in 2011. It | :05:47. | :05:53. | |
also seems like quite a long time ago that I was sitting behind the | :05:54. | :05:58. | |
front bench in my role as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to | :05:59. | :06:03. | |
the Minister for Europe as the EU referendum bill was steered through | :06:04. | :06:07. | |
Parliament, and I had to spent many long hours in this chamber wearing | :06:08. | :06:12. | |
my tin hat, as it were, as the EU referendum bill went through | :06:13. | :06:15. | |
Parliament. I was a passionate believer in the referendum and I | :06:16. | :06:18. | |
recognise the importance of the result. I was somebody who had | :06:19. | :06:24. | |
concerns about the economic consequences of us leaving the | :06:25. | :06:33. | |
European Union. But the reality was that the West Midlands region, part | :06:34. | :06:36. | |
of which I represent, was one of the strongest regions in the country in | :06:37. | :06:39. | |
terms of voting for leave. I think every single area of the West | :06:40. | :06:43. | |
Midlands voted to leave the European Union, and as a Democrat and | :06:44. | :06:46. | |
somebody who fought for the referendum, I clearly have to | :06:47. | :06:50. | |
respect the result. In the Black Country and West Midlands, we are a | :06:51. | :06:56. | |
very pragmatic people. The West Midlands economy has been performing | :06:57. | :06:59. | |
extremely well over the last few years. Now I think it's incumbent on | :07:00. | :07:07. | |
me and other leaders in the West Midlands to take advantage of the | :07:08. | :07:10. | |
opportunities that leaving the European Union represents to the | :07:11. | :07:17. | |
West Midlands economy. I want to make two broad points, that as we | :07:18. | :07:23. | |
hopefully trigger Article 50, when we vote tomorrow, that need to be | :07:24. | :07:30. | |
taken into consideration in the negotiation. The West Midlands | :07:31. | :07:33. | |
economy has been performing very well. It is currently one of the | :07:34. | :07:39. | |
export powerhouses of the UK economy with very strong exporting, not just | :07:40. | :07:44. | |
to the European Union, but to the United States and China, but | :07:45. | :07:48. | |
actually there are certain countries where the West Midlands is not | :07:49. | :07:53. | |
exporting so strongly. Countries like Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, | :07:54. | :07:57. | |
where we have negligible export volumes from the West Midlands. I | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
think there's an opportunity when we look at making free trade deals | :08:02. | :08:06. | |
around the world to facilitate further export potential for West | :08:07. | :08:10. | |
Midlands manufacturers, in the transport sector... Of course. Thank | :08:11. | :08:14. | |
you for giving way. Will he recognise that if we don't get a | :08:15. | :08:17. | |
deal, and the Prime Minister has said that's a possibility, we end up | :08:18. | :08:22. | |
with a 10% tariff on cars exported from the UK and that will be very | :08:23. | :08:27. | |
damaging to the West Midlands car industry. I don't for a minute | :08:28. | :08:30. | |
believe that we are not going to get a deal which is not going to be of | :08:31. | :08:37. | |
benefit to UK car manufacturers. It would be inconceivable that we don't | :08:38. | :08:43. | |
get a deal on that. In terms of the West Midlands economy and leaving | :08:44. | :08:46. | |
the European Union, I think it gives us an opportunity to achieve | :08:47. | :08:49. | |
something that has eluded governments over the last 25 or 30 | :08:50. | :08:54. | |
years, which is to be very serious about the need to rebalance our | :08:55. | :08:59. | |
economy, and to make sure we lock in the benefits of regional devolution. | :09:00. | :09:08. | |
The West Midlands has benefited from European brands in terms of | :09:09. | :09:10. | |
infrastructure development. I think it's incumbent, as we think about | :09:11. | :09:18. | |
the reintegration process that we go through, the requirement to raise | :09:19. | :09:21. | |
the investment levels and skills in the West Midlands. -- European | :09:22. | :09:27. | |
grants. For example, the West Midlands currently receives 40% less | :09:28. | :09:30. | |
investment in transport than London and Scotland. For a region that's | :09:31. | :09:38. | |
dependent on manufacturing and transportation, there are capacity | :09:39. | :09:40. | |
constraints around the West Midlands economy that need to be addressed. | :09:41. | :09:45. | |
People in the Black Country and West Midlands voted to leave the European | :09:46. | :09:49. | |
Union because they wanted to control immigration. That was one of the | :09:50. | :09:53. | |
principal reasons why they voted to leave the European Union. As we | :09:54. | :09:58. | |
think about negotiating our exit, as we trigger Article 50, one of the | :09:59. | :10:03. | |
most important things is for the government to commit to raising the | :10:04. | :10:08. | |
skill levels in the West Midlands, creating high quality jobs and | :10:09. | :10:13. | |
seeing the West Midlands as a critical component of our national | :10:14. | :10:17. | |
story. The West Midlands needs to have a voice in the negotiation. In | :10:18. | :10:23. | |
May this year we will have a directly elected mayor, I hope it | :10:24. | :10:32. | |
will be Andy Street. In terms of the West Midlands, the region voted most | :10:33. | :10:37. | |
decisively to leave and it must be at the head of the queue in terms of | :10:38. | :10:41. | |
getting the benefits which I believe can accrue from us leaving the | :10:42. | :10:47. | |
European Union. The second point I wanted to make, Madam Deputy | :10:48. | :10:51. | |
Speaker, is a broader point about Britain's place in the world. Even | :10:52. | :10:58. | |
though I have concerns, and did vote for Britain to remain in the | :10:59. | :11:03. | |
European Union, I have never been a fan of the political structures of | :11:04. | :11:07. | |
the European Union. It seems to me we are now on the cusp of an | :11:08. | :11:13. | |
opportunity. For 40 years of our EU membership, we have been spending a | :11:14. | :11:17. | |
lot of our diplomatic resources and a lot of our energy in managing the | :11:18. | :11:21. | |
relationships we have across the European Union. And we now need to | :11:22. | :11:27. | |
change our posture in the world, to be much more outward looking and use | :11:28. | :11:34. | |
our diplomatic reach and our diplomatic resources to change the | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
way that we influence the world. We have great, enormous soft power, | :11:40. | :11:41. | |
which we can deploy in the world. We have hard power. We should be | :11:42. | :11:57. | |
investing more in our hard power. That gives Britain a unique | :11:58. | :12:04. | |
opportunity outside of the European Union to stop expending energy on | :12:05. | :12:09. | |
the European Union and its predelictions and focusing out | :12:10. | :12:14. | |
words. As we embark on this renegotiation, Madame Deputy | :12:15. | :12:17. | |
Speaker, there is a real opportunity, I think, to challenge | :12:18. | :12:22. | |
many of the assumptions which have driven British foreign policy over | :12:23. | :12:27. | |
the last 40 years. And forge a new role for a global Britain, a record | :12:28. | :12:31. | |
locking and working for all the regions of the United Kingdom. | :12:32. | :12:45. | |
Madame Deputy Speaker, could I say at the outset I will not be able to | :12:46. | :12:59. | |
support this bill And I will not be able to support the triggering of | :13:00. | :13:05. | |
Article 50 because, like the Right Honourable member for Rushcliffe, I | :13:06. | :13:08. | |
feel that the whole operation is a bit like following the rabbit into | :13:09. | :13:12. | |
the hole and hoping to emerge in Wonderland. Like my colleagues, many | :13:13. | :13:22. | |
of them on these benches, I don't seek to deny England or Wales their | :13:23. | :13:25. | |
right to exit from the European Union if that is what the people of | :13:26. | :13:31. | |
those nations decide. I may disagree with the Brit -- with the wisdom of | :13:32. | :13:35. | |
that view but that is not why I'm opposing this bill. I have never | :13:36. | :13:39. | |
pretended that the European Union was perfect or that it doesn't need | :13:40. | :13:45. | |
reform. And I admit to even the need for radical reform. But EU has | :13:46. | :13:48. | |
delivered for Northern Ireland, it helped deliver parity of esteem and | :13:49. | :13:55. | |
prosperity for all sides of our community. And it has helped to | :13:56. | :14:00. | |
bring peace in very difficult times. European investment and access to | :14:01. | :14:04. | |
the single market has done so much in the last 25 years to remake my | :14:05. | :14:10. | |
city, Belfast, a world leading city and a city facing the 20th century | :14:11. | :14:16. | |
-- facing the 21st century having had a very difficult 20th century, | :14:17. | :14:21. | |
not least, Madame Devey speaker, because of the hard work done by | :14:22. | :14:25. | |
hundreds of people who have come to Belfast from across Europe to work | :14:26. | :14:29. | |
and contribute positively to our Society and help build a better | :14:30. | :14:34. | |
economy. And in the process, building prosperity. I come here on | :14:35. | :14:41. | |
behalf of the people of south Belfast. They voted 70% to remain on | :14:42. | :14:48. | |
a 70% turnout, something that was very, very clear and without any | :14:49. | :14:55. | |
doubt. And I come here to ask the government not to unnecessarily | :14:56. | :14:58. | |
takeaway membership of the European Union that has already done so much | :14:59. | :15:02. | |
for my constituency, and has the potential to do more. And I want to | :15:03. | :15:08. | |
draw attention to the fact that Queens University in the heart of my | :15:09. | :15:12. | |
constituency is highly dependent for its research and its development on | :15:13. | :15:16. | |
European Union funding. And I have an guarantees, in fact, I have | :15:17. | :15:22. | |
little expectation, that that will be matched by government post | :15:23. | :15:27. | |
Brexit. The Prime Minister row and the Secretary of State have already | :15:28. | :15:30. | |
said that they have no desire to go back to the borders of the past. I'm | :15:31. | :15:35. | |
glad to hear it. And so will the 30,000 people that crossed the Irish | :15:36. | :15:41. | |
border every day for work. But they will need a bit more than warm words | :15:42. | :15:46. | |
of comfort. They need a concrete agreement, a concrete arrangement | :15:47. | :15:50. | |
between Dublin and London and Belfast and Brussels, in order to | :15:51. | :15:53. | |
sustain reasonable access to their livelihoods. But what the government | :15:54. | :15:59. | |
seems to have missed is that our concerns in Northern Ireland go much | :16:00. | :16:01. | |
deeper than just avoiding border posts. Our membership of the EU has | :16:02. | :16:10. | |
written throughout the fabric of the Good Friday Agreement. Our political | :16:11. | :16:16. | |
settlement in 1998, that keeps all of our parties at the table and | :16:17. | :16:21. | |
sustains a peace process, and hopefully a better prosperity | :16:22. | :16:25. | |
process that will follow, albeit slowly as it moves, that fabric, the | :16:26. | :16:32. | |
EU values and rules written into the fabric of that agreement, have | :16:33. | :16:36. | |
helped to maintain the stability. Without the EU, that stability would | :16:37. | :16:39. | |
not have been obtained and maintained. Maintaining that | :16:40. | :16:43. | |
stability requires the principles of the Good Friday Agreement to be | :16:44. | :16:47. | |
underpinned in law through this exit process. Both at the outset and | :16:48. | :16:53. | |
indeed in the final exit deal. And this is without even touching on the | :16:54. | :16:57. | |
wider concerns that other honourable members have raised about the impact | :16:58. | :17:03. | |
of Brexit on our universities, the rights of European citizens already | :17:04. | :17:06. | |
living here, and the rights of our own citizens who wish to study or | :17:07. | :17:10. | |
work across the European Union. So regardless of the Supreme Court's | :17:11. | :17:16. | |
decision over the role of the devolved administrations, which I | :17:17. | :17:18. | |
beg to differ from, it is in the government's on interest to get this | :17:19. | :17:23. | |
right for Northern Ireland and maintain the stability that has been | :17:24. | :17:28. | |
achieved. Indeed it is the government's obligation as | :17:29. | :17:32. | |
co-guarantors of that settlement and that Good Friday Agreement of 1998, | :17:33. | :17:36. | |
to sustain that. It will be much harder to get things right restoring | :17:37. | :17:43. | |
stability in Northern Ireland, while rushing to meet an artificial | :17:44. | :17:47. | |
timetable imposed unnecessarily by government. That is why I call on | :17:48. | :17:51. | |
the government, even at this late stage, not to rush now and regret | :17:52. | :17:55. | |
later. I begged them to take the time to get this right for all of | :17:56. | :18:00. | |
us. Earlier today the Secretary of State told us to trust the wisdom of | :18:01. | :18:03. | |
the people. There is no one I trust more with the future of Northern | :18:04. | :18:07. | |
Ireland than the people of Northern Ireland. And the people of Northern | :18:08. | :18:12. | |
Ireland voted to Remain. Voters in south Belfast, as I reminded you, | :18:13. | :18:18. | |
voted 70% on a 70% turnout to stay in Europe. And I hope I am | :18:19. | :18:21. | |
representing them here today and representing their views. And with | :18:22. | :18:26. | |
no answers, our the very best very foggy answers given on the border, | :18:27. | :18:30. | |
our economy, and protecting parity of esteem, I and my colleagues | :18:31. | :18:36. | |
cannot vote to support the triggering of Article 50. | :18:37. | :18:44. | |
There has been much debate today about the question of whether not | :18:45. | :18:50. | |
only whether the government has sufficient mandate to invoke Article | :18:51. | :18:53. | |
50, but whether it has sufficient mandate to exit the single market | :18:54. | :18:59. | |
and the Customs Union. Many honourable members may know that my | :19:00. | :19:02. | |
involvement in this question didn't build it -- begin when I was elected | :19:03. | :19:07. | |
to this House in 2015. Prior to that I had the privilege of working in | :19:08. | :19:13. | |
Downing Street. And for me, the whole question about our membership | :19:14. | :19:17. | |
of the EU is inextricably rooted in the conflict between control, | :19:18. | :19:23. | |
principally about immigration and also our non-laws on the one hand, | :19:24. | :19:26. | |
and on membership of the single market on the other. In the decade | :19:27. | :19:30. | |
that followed Tony Blair's disastrous decision to allow Eastern | :19:31. | :19:35. | |
European members of the EU to gain full control to the -- access to the | :19:36. | :19:41. | |
labour market without controls, net migration from the EU went from | :19:42. | :19:46. | |
roughly imbalanced to being in the tens of thousands every year. The | :19:47. | :19:49. | |
application of the single market to the field of labour, in facilitating | :19:50. | :19:59. | |
the free movement of labour, this was compounded by the fact that the | :20:00. | :20:05. | |
UK not only had no transition controls, we also have an open, | :20:06. | :20:08. | |
English speaking labour market which is much more conducive to migrants. | :20:09. | :20:13. | |
And latterly, the eurozone crisis meant that when much of Europe | :20:14. | :20:19. | |
stagnated, the United kingdom became a jobs creation engine, sucking | :20:20. | :20:23. | |
labour from stagnant continental countries. Now all of this lead to a | :20:24. | :20:28. | |
growing sense of a loss of control. These were huge changes about which | :20:29. | :20:31. | |
the British people were never asked and to which they never consented. | :20:32. | :20:35. | |
That is why Conservative manifesto is completely -- repeatedly | :20:36. | :20:41. | |
committed us to reducing migration in the tens of thousands. The | :20:42. | :20:44. | |
experience of government demonstrated this could not be | :20:45. | :20:46. | |
achieved... I will give way. The Conservative | :20:47. | :20:58. | |
manifesto committed to stay in the single market? It committed us to | :20:59. | :21:04. | |
having renegotiation followed by an in- out referendum, which is what we | :21:05. | :21:08. | |
delivered. The argument I am making is that the question of EU | :21:09. | :21:11. | |
membership is inextricably linked to the question of the single market. | :21:12. | :21:15. | |
Now the problem with trying to control migration within the EU is | :21:16. | :21:22. | |
that the commission rigidly stuck to the doctrine that free movement of | :21:23. | :21:25. | |
people was one of the immovable pillars of the single market, and | :21:26. | :21:31. | |
that any attempts to favourite EU nationals over... This was despite | :21:32. | :21:37. | |
the fact the reality of its application had changed since we | :21:38. | :21:41. | |
initially agreed to single market membership. And the fact that no | :21:42. | :21:46. | |
such similarly -- similar level of purity applied to the other pillars, | :21:47. | :21:50. | |
particularly services, where the UK stood to be a major beneficiary. For | :21:51. | :21:55. | |
me, this loss of control... I give way. I'm grateful to the honourable | :21:56. | :22:01. | |
gentleman forgiving way. Isn't it the case that several EU countries | :22:02. | :22:07. | |
now have quite deep concerns about the consequences of unfettered free | :22:08. | :22:11. | |
movement? And the collapse of Schengen, albeit for different | :22:12. | :22:14. | |
reasons, is further evidence of that. I thank the honourable | :22:15. | :22:18. | |
gentleman for his intervention. I think that's undoubtedly the case. I | :22:19. | :22:23. | |
think the problem is that the commission and other EU members move | :22:24. | :22:27. | |
that glacial speed. I don't think there is likely to be a significant | :22:28. | :22:30. | |
change in their approach to the single market for some time. This | :22:31. | :22:34. | |
was not the only factor but it certainly added strong impetus to | :22:35. | :22:38. | |
the argument that the only way we can resolve this was through a | :22:39. | :22:42. | |
policy of renegotiation followed by a referendum, which we fought in the | :22:43. | :22:49. | |
2015 election. The experience of the commission was that they | :22:50. | :22:51. | |
dogmatically refused to compromise on its conception of the free | :22:52. | :22:56. | |
movement issue. This was bolstered by Chancellor Merkel's experience | :22:57. | :23:02. | |
growing up as a child of East Germany, who had an innate hostility | :23:03. | :23:07. | |
to any imposition of borders. Going into the referendum we could not | :23:08. | :23:10. | |
credibly say that significant control had been restored. But | :23:11. | :23:15. | |
pitted against this strong argument for leading the European Union was | :23:16. | :23:21. | |
the significant economic risk and dislocation that arose from losing | :23:22. | :23:24. | |
unfettered access to a market of half a billion people, which we | :23:25. | :23:28. | |
achieved through full membership of the single market. The decision was | :23:29. | :23:32. | |
a very difficult balance between control on the one hand and risk on | :23:33. | :23:36. | |
the other. Now that's why I think it was absolutely right to put such a | :23:37. | :23:39. | |
profound question to the British people in the form of a referendum. | :23:40. | :23:45. | |
But we should be quite clear the dilemma of EU membership was | :23:46. | :23:50. | |
precisely the dilemma of our membership of the single market. The | :23:51. | :23:59. | |
benefits of trade against migration. This -- these issues were the | :24:00. | :24:02. | |
essence of the debate. My innate conservatism favoured not taking | :24:03. | :24:06. | |
that risk. But the British peoples of the alternative decision. That | :24:07. | :24:09. | |
was the whole point of asking them in the first place. It absolutely | :24:10. | :24:15. | |
clear now that not only should I respect that decision and votes to | :24:16. | :24:18. | |
invoke Article 50, I should also seek to implemented fully which must | :24:19. | :24:24. | |
mean leaving the single market, but also the Customs Union. Now for | :24:25. | :24:27. | |
people to claim that the government does not have a mandate to do this, | :24:28. | :24:31. | |
is to completely ignore how we got to this situation in the place. But | :24:32. | :24:36. | |
equally, we must be clear in the other choices we have taken. I'm | :24:37. | :24:42. | |
very glad the economy has maintained momentum after the initial political | :24:43. | :24:45. | |
decision to leave. And I'm confident that in the medium to long term we | :24:46. | :24:49. | |
can make a success of the huge liberation that leaving the European | :24:50. | :24:55. | |
Union. We can tailor our on Lotts to meet the economic and trading | :24:56. | :24:58. | |
interests of this country, and the countries with which we choose to | :24:59. | :25:05. | |
enter bilateral deals. We will be inhibited by a 27 member bloc. We | :25:06. | :25:10. | |
are well placed to exploit this. We have the English language, a time | :25:11. | :25:16. | |
zone, political stability, the rule of law, tremendous creativity. But | :25:17. | :25:22. | |
equally, we should not forget the risk we took to leave. I'm quite | :25:23. | :25:25. | |
sure that in the short term sterling depreciation will likely lead to | :25:26. | :25:29. | |
price rises this year, squeezing disposable income and consumer | :25:30. | :25:33. | |
spending. Equally the terms of our access to the single market will be | :25:34. | :25:37. | |
different, causing short-term dislocation. And of course the | :25:38. | :25:41. | |
commission and member states will initially... I give way very | :25:42. | :25:47. | |
briefly. He correctly points out that the fall in sterling will lead | :25:48. | :25:52. | |
to an increase in inflation. This goblin has frozen benefits for the | :25:53. | :25:55. | |
next four years. Is it not the case that by the action we have taken and | :25:56. | :26:00. | |
the fact the Autumn Statement shows growth will be lower, as a | :26:01. | :26:03. | |
consequence of this, a lover people be very much poorer. | :26:04. | :26:07. | |
Two things to the honourable gentleman. The first is that record | :26:08. | :26:11. | |
low unemployment means there is tremendous opportunity for those | :26:12. | :26:15. | |
people. Secondly, wages across the board have not grown rapidly. It is | :26:16. | :26:21. | |
entirely right that constraint is applied to benefits. Of course, the | :26:22. | :26:24. | |
commission and member states will initially resist any deal that is | :26:25. | :26:28. | |
not unambiguously seen as making the UK worse off from exiting the EU. I | :26:29. | :26:34. | |
say this not to fight the battles of the past again, but because we | :26:35. | :26:40. | |
expect these changes, and plan for them, we will be better placed to | :26:41. | :26:43. | |
see them through to the opportunities in the long run. This | :26:44. | :26:47. | |
is the beginning of a process of historic change in our nation. But | :26:48. | :26:51. | |
it's a path we have chosen with our eyes open. And the exercise of our | :26:52. | :26:56. | |
democratic rights. And I believe we have many reasons to be optimistic. | :26:57. | :27:00. | |
We on these benches are on the same side and we should seize the | :27:01. | :27:03. | |
opportunities that this change of direction half-forwards us. | :27:04. | :27:09. | |
It's a pleasure to follow the honourable member for heart smear. I | :27:10. | :27:16. | |
must begin by associating myself with the remarks made by my | :27:17. | :27:20. | |
honourable friend for Cardiff sentry. I wish I wasn't engaged in | :27:21. | :27:24. | |
this debate tonight. I wish you weren't having to clear up this mess | :27:25. | :27:28. | |
and I wish the former Right Honourable member for Whitney had | :27:29. | :27:32. | |
not cut and run, but was here to help dig his way out of this hole. | :27:33. | :27:38. | |
I'm not surprised that he left, because he offered as a political | :27:39. | :27:42. | |
strategy based on all the boxer ethics of the Bullingdon Club. -- | :27:43. | :27:48. | |
all the ethos and ethics. Smash the place up, leave some money, at least | :27:49. | :27:52. | |
somebody else to clear up. I'm not sure where the cash is. Because we | :27:53. | :28:01. | |
appear to be... As the honourable member for Peterborough knows, we | :28:02. | :28:05. | |
appear to be half ?1 trillion further in debt than we were in | :28:06. | :28:12. | |
2010. So I wish we weren't starting from here. But the people have | :28:13. | :28:17. | |
spoken, this is a democracy, and I will respect the decision that was | :28:18. | :28:21. | |
taken. But my right honourable friend, the member for Leeds | :28:22. | :28:25. | |
Central, hit the nail absolutely on the head, the people of this country | :28:26. | :28:30. | |
didn't vote for a plan, they didn't vote for a blueprint, they didn't | :28:31. | :28:34. | |
vote to lose their jobs, and they did not vote based on the full truth | :28:35. | :28:39. | |
on the table. Indeed, this was a terrible campaign, the devil do with | :28:40. | :28:43. | |
lies about what money would be saved and what money would be spent. But | :28:44. | :28:48. | |
there was a vote to make Parliament sovereign, and we must start now by | :28:49. | :28:53. | |
making Parliament sovereign over the plan. This is the first debate of | :28:54. | :28:58. | |
many and tonight and in the days to come we will have the first vote of | :28:59. | :29:01. | |
many as we ask the Brexit secretary and his colleagues to come back to | :29:02. | :29:04. | |
their house to check whether they have got the answers right and the | :29:05. | :29:11. | |
strategy sound. I want to make sure there is a sense about those | :29:12. | :29:14. | |
negotiations that there are three things uppermost in his mind. First | :29:15. | :29:19. | |
of all, we have to make sure that those who lose out from Brexit, I | :29:20. | :29:24. | |
helped and supported. We all know there will be those who are battered | :29:25. | :29:28. | |
and bruised by the Brexit process. There is no point pretending | :29:29. | :29:32. | |
otherwise. But let's make sure there's a plan in place to support | :29:33. | :29:37. | |
those people. They are not the rich. They are the poor. And they are | :29:38. | :29:42. | |
people on tax credits. It was argued earlier this afternoon, they are the | :29:43. | :29:47. | |
people whose tax are frozen. As a result of that, and as a result of | :29:48. | :29:52. | |
higher inflation now cursing fuel and food, they will be ?620 per year | :29:53. | :29:58. | |
worse off by the next election. So I say to the government, we need to | :29:59. | :30:03. | |
see a plan for making sure that we don't waste ?1 billion on corporate | :30:04. | :30:10. | |
tax cuts by 2020, let's use this money to unlock the freeze on | :30:11. | :30:13. | |
benefits. I give way to the honourable member. If he can explain | :30:14. | :30:17. | |
why we have been the fastest-growing G-7 economy of the next year with | :30:18. | :30:23. | |
acceleration in the second half White wages and real wages are up, | :30:24. | :30:27. | |
and things are looking good. I know experts are no longer in fashion on | :30:28. | :30:32. | |
that side of the house, but the Office for Budget Responsibility is | :30:33. | :30:35. | |
very clear, because of higher inflation, people on tax credits | :30:36. | :30:38. | |
will be poorer, not richer, in the next couple of years. I genuinely | :30:39. | :30:44. | |
believe the Brexit secretary wants to protect hard-working families, | :30:45. | :30:47. | |
but let's see him put his money where his mouth is and argue with | :30:48. | :30:50. | |
the Chancellor to unfreeze tax credits over the next couple of | :30:51. | :30:55. | |
years. That should be our priority. Second, we need a real plan to | :30:56. | :30:59. | |
protect manufacturing in this country. We have to recognise that | :31:00. | :31:03. | |
manufacturing output has not yet recovered to the level it was before | :31:04. | :31:09. | |
the crash. And yet, if you look at the car industry in regions like | :31:10. | :31:14. | |
mine in the West Midlands, it's employing 49,000 people today. That | :31:15. | :31:18. | |
industry will be destroyed if we have to rely on WTO tariffs at 10% | :31:19. | :31:25. | |
and adding more costs by building a border to check the 60% parts that | :31:26. | :31:31. | |
we import to build cars in this country. Whatever the deal put in | :31:32. | :31:36. | |
place, it has to put manufacturing first. Third, we have to make sure | :31:37. | :31:41. | |
there is no race to the bottom on rights, on workers' rights, social | :31:42. | :31:45. | |
rights, on the rights of minorities. We have already seen the briefing, | :31:46. | :31:55. | |
from a number ten source. There was a proposal to exit the European | :31:56. | :31:58. | |
Convention on human rights, that great European Magna Carta that we | :31:59. | :32:03. | |
helped to draw up after the war that it would stop in check any return to | :32:04. | :32:06. | |
the Holocaust that we march last week. How could we possibly | :32:07. | :32:10. | |
contemplate now leaving that convention and joining the company | :32:11. | :32:15. | |
of Putin's Russia? I hope over the course of these debates we will have | :32:16. | :32:19. | |
the cast-iron guarantee that there will be no exit from the convention | :32:20. | :32:23. | |
on human rights. The final point I would make to the government is that | :32:24. | :32:27. | |
although there are tests for me on how we protect those battered and | :32:28. | :32:32. | |
bruised by Brexit, on how we defend manufacturing and make sure there is | :32:33. | :32:36. | |
no race to the bottom on rights, the spirit of these negotiations is | :32:37. | :32:40. | |
important. I have to accept that we will leave a federal Europe, but I | :32:41. | :32:45. | |
believe now could be the start of a con federal project, where we begin | :32:46. | :32:49. | |
to step up our collaboration with our neighbours on security, where we | :32:50. | :32:59. | |
step up collaboration on jobs, where we step up collaboration on | :33:00. | :33:00. | |
international development. Step up collaboration on science. Step up | :33:01. | :33:03. | |
collaboration on things we can do together in the world. On this | :33:04. | :33:08. | |
debate it is so important now that we do not listen to the Devils and | :33:09. | :33:13. | |
the Demons of division. Now is the time for the government to listen to | :33:14. | :33:18. | |
the better angels of our nature. Claire Perry. It was the country's | :33:19. | :33:26. | |
first Prime Minister, and this might arise the eye up for the member of | :33:27. | :33:32. | |
Sheppey if you were in his place. If you want something talked about ask | :33:33. | :33:36. | |
a man, if you want something done, ask a woman. I'm pleased our current | :33:37. | :33:40. | |
Prime Minister is in place because she's taking on an unbelievable task | :33:41. | :33:45. | |
and delivering it with intellect and grace and clarity. She's made it | :33:46. | :33:49. | |
very clear to this house regardless of how we campaigned voted what the | :33:50. | :33:52. | |
process will be and what the time frame full believe. For that I am | :33:53. | :33:57. | |
great. It has been men and women over many years who have debated | :33:58. | :34:02. | |
endlessly in this place and elsewhere the European question. | :34:03. | :34:05. | |
Something that was a monumental talking point when I came to this | :34:06. | :34:09. | |
place and which rather confused me, I have to say, because it did not | :34:10. | :34:13. | |
seem to talk about the issues that face this country and will continue | :34:14. | :34:20. | |
to face our country. Archer from the European Union. The puzzling and | :34:21. | :34:23. | |
troubling productivity gap in British industry. Our lack of | :34:24. | :34:27. | |
skills, lack of investment in education. A problem with the low | :34:28. | :34:31. | |
savings rate meaning families have little to fall back on. Suddenly on | :34:32. | :34:39. | |
June 23 we all went from talking to doing. And this is not the place, I | :34:40. | :34:44. | |
totally agree with honourable members, to rerun either the | :34:45. | :34:47. | |
referendum or the arguments. People will know I was a remain supportive. | :34:48. | :34:53. | |
But I like so many who have spoken, was appalled by the quality of the | :34:54. | :34:57. | |
debate. And the quality of the conversations that took place. We | :34:58. | :35:02. | |
were asking the country to make a very profound decision on the basis | :35:03. | :35:09. | |
of slogans, to boil down extremely complicated questions and trade-offs | :35:10. | :35:14. | |
into a single yes or no question. It was spiced up with anti-immigration | :35:15. | :35:18. | |
rhetoric. I'm sorry for those honourable members who believe this | :35:19. | :35:22. | |
is not what the league campaign represented, but I thought the | :35:23. | :35:26. | |
poster of people wanting to come to this country, the Breaking Point | :35:27. | :35:31. | |
poster, was a particularly low point in this debate. The conversation was | :35:32. | :35:39. | |
also sullied by misrepresentation overfunding and we have debated | :35:40. | :35:44. | |
today the 350 million. And those conversations about Turkey that was | :35:45. | :35:48. | |
lined up to join the EU, if you listened to many of the members | :35:49. | :35:51. | |
campaigning on certain sites. Equally on the remains side of the | :35:52. | :35:56. | |
equation, project fear, I completely accept we were not giving positive | :35:57. | :36:01. | |
messages to campaign on. What about staying connected and relevant in | :36:02. | :36:05. | |
the world rather than trying to frighten people based on theoretical | :36:06. | :36:10. | |
models that thanks to quantitative easing and an interest rate cut have | :36:11. | :36:14. | |
yet to come true. But since the referendum result we have a | :36:15. | :36:17. | |
government very ably led by our Prime Minister, who has taken a | :36:18. | :36:21. | |
pragmatic approach that we are where we are, and we need strength and | :36:22. | :36:25. | |
leadership. As the Right Honourable member for Leeds Central said | :36:26. | :36:30. | |
earlier today, the major problem facing us and representatives of | :36:31. | :36:34. | |
Western democracies is a crisis of trust in our institutions and | :36:35. | :36:38. | |
politicians. Like others I will be voting with the government tomorrow | :36:39. | :36:42. | |
night to support the triggering of Article 50. We will never be able to | :36:43. | :36:52. | |
prove the counter facts, what would have happened if we had not voted to | :36:53. | :36:54. | |
leave, what would have happened without the depreciation in currency | :36:55. | :36:56. | |
and the change is already happening in the European Union. But I for one | :36:57. | :37:01. | |
feel ill informed about this debate. I was minded to go back and look at | :37:02. | :37:04. | |
the conversations held in this house at the time of joining the EU, | :37:05. | :37:08. | |
conversations that started with the publication of a White Paper in 1967 | :37:09. | :37:13. | |
and ended up in a referendum in 1975. I have read the speeches given | :37:14. | :37:20. | |
by my predecessor but one, Charles Morrison, who contributed to the | :37:21. | :37:23. | |
debates and was an arch European, I'm pleased to say. He was given the | :37:24. | :37:28. | |
opportunity in extensive debates over six White papers in the | :37:29. | :37:33. | |
formation for the manifesto of the 1970 election and multiple | :37:34. | :37:37. | |
conversations with Parliament. Indeed the White Paper presented by | :37:38. | :37:40. | |
the Ted Heath government in 1971 reported back on the progress of | :37:41. | :37:43. | |
negotiation that have been made up until that point between the British | :37:44. | :37:48. | |
government and members of the small European Union, and it set out what | :37:49. | :37:55. | |
areas still needed to be discussed. Compared to my predecessor, I have | :37:56. | :37:59. | |
to say that I do not feel I am well-informed about the process and | :38:00. | :38:02. | |
what the trade off is are for the British economy. And I refute | :38:03. | :38:06. | |
wholeheartedly the idea that people voted one way or another in the | :38:07. | :38:10. | |
referendum based on this perfect knowledge of all the facts. I sat | :38:11. | :38:14. | |
through many a hustings in which my opponent said, it's not for us to | :38:15. | :38:19. | |
define what to leave looks like. You are the government, it's your job. | :38:20. | :38:23. | |
We just no way we want to be out. Everybody's view of Brexit is very | :38:24. | :38:29. | |
different. -- we just know that we want to be out. How do we know we | :38:30. | :38:34. | |
are making the right decision? I would urge the government to be as | :38:35. | :38:37. | |
open and transparent as possible and bring forward the White Paper before | :38:38. | :38:41. | |
the committee stage of the current bill. I would ask the government | :38:42. | :38:45. | |
when we get to the end of the process, when we know there will be | :38:46. | :38:49. | |
a binary offer, we are either in some form of relationship with the | :38:50. | :38:54. | |
European Union, all we are not, to say what the economic consequences | :38:55. | :38:58. | |
of those deals look like. We can't possibly sit down and make an | :38:59. | :39:04. | |
assessment on what a free-trade world might look like, or a | :39:05. | :39:07. | |
relationship with the EU, plus or minus any economic contribution we | :39:08. | :39:10. | |
would be asked to make, without understanding the implications for | :39:11. | :39:15. | |
our country. It may be that we have made a good decision for all the | :39:16. | :39:19. | |
wrong reasons, but I do not yet feel we have the right information to | :39:20. | :39:23. | |
justify that to the country. Sarah Olney. In this country we have | :39:24. | :39:31. | |
settled, through a process of trial and error, on a system of | :39:32. | :39:35. | |
parliamentary democracy as the most effective form of government. And | :39:36. | :39:40. | |
the importance of parliamentary role is asserted by the Supreme Court | :39:41. | :39:44. | |
last week. The responsibility of parliamentarians is clear, to take | :39:45. | :39:48. | |
decisions in the best interests of the country with particular regard | :39:49. | :39:51. | |
for the needs of their constituents. I believe that leaving the European | :39:52. | :39:57. | |
Union will be hugely damaging for this country. But the British people | :39:58. | :40:00. | |
narrowly expressed a different view in a referendum. It is now for | :40:01. | :40:04. | |
Parliament to take account of the referendum and decide what's in the | :40:05. | :40:07. | |
best interest for the country. There is no evidence, and none has been | :40:08. | :40:10. | |
presented that the best interests of the country will be served by the | :40:11. | :40:14. | |
immediate triggering of Article 50 and the pursuit of the hardest | :40:15. | :40:18. | |
Brexit possible. It seems to me to be an abdication of responsibility | :40:19. | :40:22. | |
to say that the only factor that can be considered in deciding whether to | :40:23. | :40:28. | |
trigger Article 50 is the result of the referendum. The will of the | :40:29. | :40:31. | |
people cannot be tied down to one single point and be presumed to | :40:32. | :40:34. | |
never change or waver. It should not be assumed that because a narrow | :40:35. | :40:38. | |
majority of people who are willing and entitled to express a view on | :40:39. | :40:43. | |
June 23, decided we should leave the European Union, that they should be | :40:44. | :40:46. | |
the only thing to determine the fate of the whole population for now and | :40:47. | :40:50. | |
many decades into the future. This is not the end of the debate, it's | :40:51. | :40:54. | |
only the beginning. I will give away. The Conservative manifesto on | :40:55. | :40:59. | |
which we won the election asserted we would hold a referendum and | :41:00. | :41:05. | |
uphold the result. It's a promise made and a promise kept. Does she | :41:06. | :41:10. | |
accept that? There has been a lot of talk about the referendum act, the | :41:11. | :41:18. | |
referendum Bill. I wasn't here and I didn't vote for it. I am not bound | :41:19. | :41:23. | |
by it. Your 2015 manifesto also committed us to stay in the single | :41:24. | :41:29. | |
market. If, in three or eight years' time, the people are not happy with | :41:30. | :41:34. | |
the outcome of Brexit, who should they hold accountable? If they want | :41:35. | :41:37. | |
the country to take a different course, how should they vote then? | :41:38. | :41:42. | |
Will all the MPs step back and say they merely implemented the will of | :41:43. | :41:46. | |
the people, and that the outcome of Brexit is not their responsibility? | :41:47. | :41:50. | |
Denying the people the right to hold their representatives accountable is | :41:51. | :41:55. | |
what would be truly undemocratic. I asked a question of the Secretary of | :41:56. | :42:02. | |
State for leaving the European Union last week about what impact | :42:03. | :42:04. | |
assessments had been done to indicate the loss of jobs and skills | :42:05. | :42:07. | |
to the UK as a consequence of leaving the European Union. I was | :42:08. | :42:10. | |
told such information couldn't be released because it would weaken our | :42:11. | :42:13. | |
negotiating hand. I find this extremely worrying for two reasons. | :42:14. | :42:18. | |
Firstly, if this information is available and the minister who | :42:19. | :42:21. | |
responded did not confirm these assessments had been carried out, | :42:22. | :42:24. | |
then it should not be available to the public to consider. Secondly, | :42:25. | :42:28. | |
that our country's future prosperity, our jobs and skilled | :42:29. | :42:32. | |
workers, should now depend so heavily on the outcome of a | :42:33. | :42:38. | |
negotiation. Far from taking back control, we are apparently dependent | :42:39. | :42:41. | |
on what other countries will or will not allow. There is so much we don't | :42:42. | :42:46. | |
know about the consequences of leaving the European Union, either | :42:47. | :42:50. | |
because the government refuses to reveal it, or because it depends on | :42:51. | :42:53. | |
the outcome of negotiations, we have not been given site of the | :42:54. | :42:56. | |
government's White Paper before being asked to consider the bill, so | :42:57. | :43:00. | |
we are effectively asked to jump out of the aeroplane before we know | :43:01. | :43:04. | |
whether we are securely attached to a parachute. I don't think it's a | :43:05. | :43:08. | |
responsible approach to take to the security and prosperity of our | :43:09. | :43:16. | |
citizens. If we make the decision to trigger Article 50, the most | :43:17. | :43:18. | |
immediate and pressing goal will be to advanced negotiations with | :43:19. | :43:20. | |
European partners as quickly as possible to provide security and | :43:21. | :43:23. | |
clarity for citizens. I think it's important not to just settle for any | :43:24. | :43:27. | |
result we can get. We should make a further, active and informed | :43:28. | :43:31. | |
decision that the new Deal is a better alternative than remaining in | :43:32. | :43:34. | |
the European Union, and the choice should be between those two | :43:35. | :43:38. | |
outcomes, having held the initial referendum to ask the public to | :43:39. | :43:44. | |
guide our decision-making, we cannot exclude them from the decision. | :43:45. | :43:47. | |
There needs to be a referendum on the terms so the people can decide | :43:48. | :43:51. | |
for themselves. The decision made in this place in the coming days will | :43:52. | :43:54. | |
shape our future country for generations and we owe it to them to | :43:55. | :43:58. | |
proceed with caution, thoughtfulness and care. My grandparents generation | :43:59. | :44:02. | |
gifted as eight nation free from tyranny. My parents generation | :44:03. | :44:09. | |
gifted a country free with rising prosperity. When I think of this | :44:10. | :44:14. | |
generation, I want to picture a nation free of fear, and inequality. | :44:15. | :44:19. | |
I don't think that's a world we can build by turning our back on our | :44:20. | :44:22. | |
neighbours, closing a door on our friends, turning a blind eye to | :44:23. | :44:26. | |
tyranny, or by walking hand-in-hand with intolerance. I will be voting | :44:27. | :44:31. | |
against this bill tomorrow, not just because I represent a pro-remain | :44:32. | :44:35. | |
party in April remain constituency, and not just because I made this | :44:36. | :44:38. | |
commitment to voters during my recent by-election campaign. I will | :44:39. | :44:44. | |
be voting against this bill because I believe triggering Article 50 is | :44:45. | :44:47. | |
the wrong step for this country did take at this time. | :44:48. | :44:52. | |
Thank you. What a pleasure it is to follow the honourable lady from | :44:53. | :45:01. | |
Richmond Park who assure us that the Liberal Democrats don't believe in | :45:02. | :45:05. | |
democracy, it is incongruous they should be in that position, today is | :45:06. | :45:09. | |
in fact celebrating one of the days that will go down in the annals of | :45:10. | :45:13. | |
British history, there are many years that we can call to mind, be | :45:14. | :45:22. | |
it 1066 or 1215. How many do wow want? 1346, 1485, 1509, 1649. These | :45:23. | :45:36. | |
are great and famous years. But it is very very rare, it is very | :45:37. | :45:43. | |
rare that specific days are commemorated as I think the 23rd | :45:44. | :45:49. | |
June 2016 will commemorated. It is on a par with St Crispin's day 1415 | :45:50. | :45:58. | |
and with the 18th June, 1815. Great days in our nation's history. We are | :45:59. | :46:04. | |
here debating this because our constitution has been put back on a | :46:05. | :46:08. | |
proper footing. It has been put back on a proper footing by the wisdom of | :46:09. | :46:13. | |
the British people, but also as it happens, by the Supreme Court, and I | :46:14. | :46:19. | |
am particularly pleased by page 29 of the judgment, that says for these | :46:20. | :46:25. | |
reasons, we disagree with Lloyd LJ's conclusions in Rees-Mogg, in so far | :46:26. | :46:29. | |
as he held that ministers could exercise prerogative powers to | :46:30. | :46:33. | |
withdraw from the EU treaties so the judges that has take an year or two, | :46:34. | :46:38. | |
to finally agree in 1993 my father was right, so there is a virtue in | :46:39. | :46:43. | |
this judicial process, slow and long winded though it may be, but | :46:44. | :46:52. | |
actually it is so important constitutionally because dices | :46:53. | :46:56. | |
constitution has been restored. The Queen in Parliament is the sovereign | :46:57. | :47:04. | |
body of our nation, and that is so important because as Dicey argued it | :47:05. | :47:09. | |
is Parliament that is the defender of the lib ditips of the peopleches | :47:10. | :47:12. | |
of our ancient constitution and freedoms. I give way. Very grateful | :47:13. | :47:18. | |
to my friend for giving way, as our constitutional expert as he is, he | :47:19. | :47:22. | |
will be familiar with the judgment given in the case of McCormack | :47:23. | :47:29. | |
versus the Crown in Scotland. Parliamentary sovereignty is an | :47:30. | :47:34. | |
English concept. Would he agree that the Scottish people can determine | :47:35. | :47:38. | |
their own destiny if we are dragged out of Europe against our will? The | :47:39. | :47:43. | |
honourable gentleman will know that the Westminster Parliaments | :47:44. | :47:46. | |
following the accuse of union is of both Parliaments and the two | :47:47. | :47:51. | |
traditions to some extent merged in 1707. He is very well aware of that | :47:52. | :47:57. | |
point, and that the sovereignty of Parliament now applies to the United | :47:58. | :48:01. | |
Kingdom as, of course I will give way. He is making as ever a | :48:02. | :48:07. | |
fantastic speech. Following on from the intervention from the Scottish | :48:08. | :48:11. | |
National Party member, is it not the case in the judgment they make clear | :48:12. | :48:17. | |
we do not need a legislative concept motion or any consent because | :48:18. | :48:21. | |
dicey's principle that power devolved is power retained means | :48:22. | :48:26. | |
this Parliament is always sovereign. My right honourable friend is right | :48:27. | :48:30. | |
on that. The judgment is clear in relation to the convention it is a | :48:31. | :48:34. | |
political convention which is not within the field of the judiciary to | :48:35. | :48:39. | |
rule upon, they say they are neither the parent nor the Guardian of the | :48:40. | :48:45. | |
convention but they also made clear that by legislation this Parliament | :48:46. | :48:49. | |
can do anything within the United Kingdom on behalf of the British | :48:50. | :48:53. | |
people. And we need to get back to the beginning as to where does this | :48:54. | :48:57. | |
Parliamentary sovereignty come from? Here we are back to the debates of | :48:58. | :49:02. | |
the 17th sent, Parliamentary sovereignty, sovereignty in this | :49:03. | :49:06. | |
country was thought either to come via the king from God, or to | :49:07. | :49:11. | |
Parliament via the people, and that is where referendums come into this | :49:12. | :49:18. | |
so rightly, because these sovereignty ex size is pot in a | :49:19. | :49:23. | |
vacuum. It has not descended from on high. It bills up from underneath. | :49:24. | :49:28. | |
The right of the people of the United Kingdom is to determine how | :49:29. | :49:34. | |
they are governed, and they, on 23rd June, I can't give way again because | :49:35. | :49:39. | |
I don't get any more bonus points, they on the 23rd June, voted that | :49:40. | :49:45. | |
Parliamentary sovereignty would be restored to this House. And as that | :49:46. | :49:52. | |
happened, so the judges, in the Supreme Court decision reinforced | :49:53. | :49:56. | |
it, because they have reversed the clawing of power from this House | :49:57. | :50:02. | |
that has gone to the executive since the 1972 European Communities Act. | :50:03. | :50:07. | |
This Madam Deputy Speaker, is where these shocking outrageous and | :50:08. | :50:13. | |
monstrous hypocrisy clicks into place, none of whom are members of | :50:14. | :50:19. | |
this place, for no members of this place are in any sense ever | :50:20. | :50:26. | |
hypocritical. They cry Parliamentary sovereignty to obstruct the will of | :50:27. | :50:31. | |
the British people when law after law cascaded down from the European | :50:32. | :50:37. | |
Union to a chamber that was empty, to committee rooms that were overin | :50:38. | :50:41. | |
30 minute, no interest in Parliamentary sovereignty when the | :50:42. | :50:45. | |
ratchet was clawing it away from the United Kingdom, but a great cry when | :50:46. | :50:50. | |
the British people asked to have it back for themselves. And so we have | :50:51. | :50:59. | |
a situation where the Supreme Court has recognised that this House is | :51:00. | :51:04. | |
where power must lie in the creating and repealing of laws. This will | :51:05. | :51:11. | |
restore our proper constitutional balance, so that no more will we | :51:12. | :51:14. | |
have talk of interior legislation, the courts have developed a theory | :51:15. | :51:20. | |
from the 1972 act that it was superior law and laws after it were | :51:21. | :51:26. | |
bound by it. This alien to the British constitution. There is no | :51:27. | :51:30. | |
ability for this House to bind itself successors and that principle | :51:31. | :51:36. | |
is being restored by leaving the European Union and repealing | :51:37. | :51:40. | |
ultimately the European Communities Act 1972, once that is done, that | :51:41. | :51:47. | |
thread on which the idea of interior law has been hung is cut, and we are | :51:48. | :51:52. | |
back to a situation where a Parliament of five years can pass | :51:53. | :51:57. | |
any laws for this country, but cannot bind itself successors and | :51:58. | :52:04. | |
its laws can no Norway be overruled by anybody outside the Queen in | :52:05. | :52:09. | |
Parliament, and the great virtue of this constitution, and this is where | :52:10. | :52:13. | |
I agree with the honourable lady, the member for Birmingham Edgbaston, | :52:14. | :52:19. | |
is that it has provided prosperity t peace and security for our nation. | :52:20. | :52:26. | |
Because the economy does not get created out of nowhere, it depends | :52:27. | :52:29. | |
pends on the constitutional structures that you have, that | :52:30. | :52:35. | |
protect the rule of law, that protect the rule of law, allow | :52:36. | :52:40. | |
corruption to be ex potioned by freedom of speech, -- exposed. And | :52:41. | :52:46. | |
ensure that the democratic will ask act as the protect or of what is | :52:47. | :52:52. | |
decided and property rights are respected. We are back to that happy | :52:53. | :52:57. | |
constitutional system that was known in this country until 1972. In the | :52:58. | :53:03. | |
glories of our constitution, and with the great wisdom of our | :53:04. | :53:06. | |
parliamentary draft men we are doing it in one of the shortest bills to | :53:07. | :53:11. | |
pass through this House, because all this bill does, and this is why the | :53:12. | :53:16. | |
amendments are all such flotsam and jet Sam, designed to obstruct the | :53:17. | :53:22. | |
will of the British people, all this will does is implement that noble | :53:23. | :53:27. | |
brave glorious decision the people made on that day of legend and song, | :53:28. | :53:34. | |
the 23rd June n the year of our Lord, 2016. Stephen Times. I am | :53:35. | :53:43. | |
pleased to be following the honourable member for North East | :53:44. | :53:47. | |
Somerset and the constitution a perspective he set out for our | :53:48. | :53:51. | |
edification. And of course, it is the case that there are wholly | :53:52. | :53:56. | |
honourable reasons for wanting to leave the European Union. The | :53:57. | :54:00. | |
problem, however, Madam Deputy Speaker, is that we will pay a heavy | :54:01. | :54:06. | |
economic price for leaving. Too many jobs will be forced out of the UK, | :54:07. | :54:13. | |
and for that reason I shall be opposing the bill at its second | :54:14. | :54:17. | |
reading tomorrow. We were told during the referendum campaign that | :54:18. | :54:20. | |
leaving, yes of course I will give way. The prediction that the | :54:21. | :54:24. | |
honourable gentleman makes that jobs will be lost, follows the prediction | :54:25. | :54:29. | |
made by so many staying outside the single currency would lead to | :54:30. | :54:33. | |
economic decline and the vote on June 23rd would trigger an instant | :54:34. | :54:38. | |
recession, that was wrong then, with respect to his integrity why should | :54:39. | :54:44. | |
we believe that now? I think it is clear there will be a heavy economic | :54:45. | :54:49. | |
price, and within a couple of year, that will be absolutely clear, and | :54:50. | :54:54. | |
my view is that in this House, if we belief this measure is contrary to | :54:55. | :54:58. | |
the national interest, we should vote against it. We have heard a | :54:59. | :55:03. | |
couple of speeches now from members opposite saying in terms they think | :55:04. | :55:06. | |
this bill is contrary to the national interest. Many my view, if | :55:07. | :55:11. | |
that the view we should be voting against the bill. Of course. Can I | :55:12. | :55:18. | |
than thank him for his opening words, can I agree with him I | :55:19. | :55:21. | |
believe it will make our constituents the poorer and that is | :55:22. | :55:25. | |
why I will join him tomorrow, in the lobby, but can I say to him, isn't | :55:26. | :55:31. | |
it a pity that part of the debate was to basically ignore what experts | :55:32. | :55:35. | |
were saying, about the destination of our country should we leave the | :55:36. | :55:40. | |
European Union. My right honourable friend is right. We should take, pay | :55:41. | :55:44. | |
attention to those who know what they are talking about. The reality | :55:45. | :55:49. | |
is our currency has fallen significantly in value, following | :55:50. | :55:52. | |
the referendum. That means that we are poorer than we were before, that | :55:53. | :55:57. | |
has already happened. But the real damage is going to be when jobs | :55:58. | :56:00. | |
start to | :56:01. | :56:01. |