Betrayal over Brexit

LABOUR went into the General Election promising to honour the referendum result and take Britain out of the EU. Over the next eight days most of its MPs will betray that pledge by doing all they can to frustrate the Brexit process.

The EU Withdrawal Bill returns to the Commons today and the massed ranks of embittered Remainers are planning a guerrilla campaign to sabotage it.

Hundreds of amendments have been tabled in a co-ordinated cross-party attack cynically designed to destabilise both the Brexit negotiations and Theresa May’s minority Government.

For the sake of political opportunism, they are prepared to ride roughshod over the national interest.

Brexit Secretary David Davis made a major concession yesterday by offering a separate Act of Parliament on the final deal. But this won’t appease the wreckers.

Labour’s spokesman Keir Starmer wants to stay in the single market and customs union and under the rule of EU law for at least a two-year transition period after March 2019 – probably much longer.

Of course this would mean still allowing free movement and continuing to pay the vast membership fees.

In other words, nothing would change, except that we would have all the obligations and costs of being an EU member, without any say over policy. How would that be taking back control? Mr Starmer says the idea of leaving the EU without a deal is ‘unthinkable’. But his political games make that scenario far more likely – if not inevitable.

If there is no formal deal by then, we will have to revert to World Trade Organisation rules. Should that happen, Labour will have only itself to blame.