MPS signal support for Brexit talks
BRITAIN: Dozens of British MPS have indicated they will vote to authorise the start of European Union exit talks - signalling a likely victory for the government on the vote it has fought in court to avoid.
The House of Commons has started a two-day debate on a bill that lets Prime Minister Theresa May trigger two years of divorce negotiations, as the government races to meet a self-imposed March 31 deadline.
The government was forced to introduce legislation after a Supreme Court ruling last week torpedoed May’s effort to start the process of leaving the 28-nation bloc without a parliamentary vote.
PRO-EU MPS who claim they want more details about Brexit are seeking to ‘‘obfuscate, delay and dilute’’ the result of the referendum, former justice secretary Michael Gove said in the Brexit debate in parliament yesterday.
As many as 100 MPS - mainly from the Labour Party and the Scottish National Party - are expected to vote against the law to trigger the start of Britain’s exit from the EU.
The comments came as David Davis, the Exiting the EU secretary, said MPS had to ‘‘honour our side of the agreement’’ after the referendum and trigger Article 50. He said MPS had to ‘‘trust the people’’ who backed the Government to take Britain out of the EU and vote decisively for the start of Brexit.
Davis began a historic two-hour debate in the House of Commons after the Government was forced to draw up legislation to trigger Article 50 after losing an appeal at the Supreme Court. The bill is being rushed through Parliament in order to meet May’s aim to trigger Article 50 by March 9.
He said: ‘‘The eyes of the nation are on this chamber as we consider this Bill. For many years, there has been a creeping sense in the country - and not just this country - that politicians say one thing, and do another.
‘‘We voted to give the people the chance to determine our future in a referendum, now we must honour our side of the agreement: to vote to deliver on the result.’’
Gove, who led the Vote Leave campaign, said it would be ‘‘harmful for our democracy’’ for MPS to reject June’s referendum result. MPS who called for a White Paper to set out the Government plans were ‘‘not seeking clarity, they are seeking obfuscation, delay and a dilution of the democratic mandate of the British people’’.
But Nicky Morgan, a former education secretary, said it was right the plans were set out in a White Paper and not ‘‘in a speech at Lancaster House’’ by May. The paper is now due to be published today.
Gove was interrupted by proeu former business minister Anna Soubry, who wanted to know if he could be ‘‘true’’ to his claim during the campaign that £350 million will go to the NHS or was that figure ‘‘always false and a lie’’. Gove suggested the word ‘‘lie’’ was ‘‘unparliamentary’’ and insisted that as ‘‘I am not in the government I cannot deliver these sums’’.
Former chancellor of the exchequer Ken Clarke said he would vote against the government triggering Article 50, describing visions of a post-brexit future as a ‘‘wonderland’’ fantasy.
Clarke, a committed Europhile, said: ‘‘We are combining withdrawal from the single market and the customs union with this great new globalised future, which offers tremendous opportunities for us.
‘‘Apparently you follow the rabbit down the hole and you emerge in a wonderland where suddenly countries around the world are queuing up to give us trading advantages and access to their markets that previously we had never been able to achieve as part of the European Union. Nice men like President Trump and President Erdogan are just impatient to abandon their normal protectionism and give us access.’’
Former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg told MPS he had heard ‘‘on very good authority’’ that Germany was ready to offer May an ‘‘emergency brake’’ on immigration in return for a form of Brexit which would minimise economic disruption.
Rebel Labour MPS were told it was their ‘‘duty’’ to respect the result of the referendum and to back Brexit by the shadow Leaving the EU secretary. Sir Keir Starmer made his comments as it became clear that as many as 50 Labour MPS - including half a dozen ministers - planned to vote against triggering Article 50.
Sir Keir urged May to ‘‘act unilaterally to give assurances to EU nationals’’ who are in the UK and want to remain here after Britain leaves the EU. - AAP, Telegraph Group