Brexit makes Parliament matter again. Is it ready?

Parliament is the cockpit of the nation, but MPs have been on autopilot in the past 40years. Ever since the UK joined the EEC, more and more powers have been passed away from Parliament to Brussels and its institutions. Brexit will see these powers come flowing back to Westminster. So it was appropriate that the Supreme Court has decided that Parliament must legislate for the triggering of Article 50, the twoyear process by which this country will leave the EU.

For MPs to vote against Article 50 would be to vote against the referendum result itself; it says nothing about the terms on which Britain will leave the EU. This is why the government will get its bill through both the Commons and the Lords with less difficulty than many expect. The Tory leadership in the Lords is confident that the Upper House’s instinct for selfpreservation will kick in and it won’t try to block the whole process.

Politically, the Article 50 vote will be more difficult for Labour than the Tories. The Tories are relatively united on Brexit at the moment and if the Conservative rebellion only takes the form of demanding a white paper on the government’s negotiating stance, then that is easily enough addressed. But the Labour divisions over the issue are far more existential. Those MPs whose constituencies voted Leave are worried about a Ukip challenge. They don’t want to open themselves up to the charge of obstructing the referendum result. Many of those with seats that voted heavily Remain, however, want to stand up for what they and their constituents believe. There is also concern about allowing the Liberal Democrats, with their “Ukip of Remain” strategy, to become the anti-Brexit party, which would make them a threat to Labour in these cosmopolitan seats in the medium term. Compounding all this is the awful relationship between Jeremy Corbyn and his own MPs: whenever he talks about whipping a big vote, they are more inclined to rebel.

Perhaps more significant than Labour’s division will be the SNP’s unity. The SNP will try to put down as many amendments as possible, in the hope of being defeated as many times as possible. The more times they are beaten in the division lobbies, the more opportunities they’ll have to claim that the wishes of the Scottish people and their elected representatives are not being respected. Having said that, May’s decision to take the UK out of the single market does make things more difficult for the SNP. In any second independence referendum, Scottish voters would have to choose between leaving the UK single market, to which 63 per cent of Scotland’s exports go, and the EU one, which takes 18 per cent of its exports.

But the vote on Article 50 will just be the beginning of Parliament’s revival. The bill which will put all EU law into UK law will offer Parliament plenty of chances to flex its muscles. The government would like Parliament simply to transpose EU law into UK law. But even this isn’t as straightforward as it sounds; lots of EU law refers to institutions that the UK will have left behind postBrexit. The bigger issue, however, is that many Tory backbenchers regard the wholesale importation of EU law into UK law as a missed opportunity. They point out that there is a chance to use this process to demonstrate how Britain will be a different place after Brexit. For instance, scrubbing the clinical trials directive would show pharmaceutical companies and medical researchers that Britain will be an easier place to work once it has left the EU.

Of course, once Britain is no longer a member of the EU, the priority for the government will be negotiating free trade deals. But again, these agreements will have to be voted on by Parliament. The old producer vs consumer fights will return to Parliament too. Once the UK leaves the EU’s common external tariff — the customs union — should it keep tariff barriers designed to protect European producers? And given that the trade talks on which the UK government seems to be making the most progress are with Australia, New Zealand and now the Trump administration, farming is going to be at the centre of this debate.

The return of power to Parliament will be good for democratic accountability. One of the most depressing things about Tristram Hunt quitting as MP to run the Victoria and Albert Museum was the almost unanimous view that he was off to a better job. But by putting Parliament back in charge, it will make it far easier for voters to tell whether MPs are doing a good job.