For ‘national reconciliation’ after splits
thus will affect not only the current government but subsequent ones.”
He added that if there were adverse economic effects from Brexit, it was the rich that must shoulder them, instead of the Government making more cuts to public services and benefits.
Underlining how the issue has split the Conservatives, Tory former leader Lord Howard told peers: “I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times that I have rebelled against my party in the 35 years during which I have had the privilege of serving in Parliament.
“So I make this speech with a heavy heart. But I was one of the 17.4 million people who voted to leave the EU and I did so because I wanted my country and its Parliament to take back control over our nation’s future and its destiny.
“I am afraid that the agreement before us today does the opposite of that.”
Fellow Tory peer Viscount Astor, who is former prime minister David Cameron’s father-in-law, said the Eagles’ hit Hotel California about being able to “check out any time you like but you can never leave” summed up the flaw in the plan potentially to enter a backstop customs union agreement with the EU which the UK could not unilaterally quit.
He said: “If you don’t have the right to walk away you are permanently held hostage in any negotiation.”