Don’t insult the British people, May warns Tories who want to stop Brexit
‘Now it is up to the Government not to question, quibble or backslide but to get on with the job’
THERESA MAY has told Tory MPs and peers who are trying to stop Britain from leaving the European Union that they are “insulting the intelligence of the British people” and “subverting democracy”.
The Prime Minister accused pro-European politicians of “trying to kill Brexit by delaying it” and said that the voters had given their answer on membership of the EU with “emphatic clarity”.
It came as senior Conservative MPs threatened to try to block Brexit by voting against legislation which will formally take Britain out of the European Union.
Mrs May has announced that Britain will repeal the 1972 European Communities Act in a move that will formally begin the process of making Parliament sovereign once again.
In its place, a new “Great Repeal Bill” will be introduced in Parliament as early as next year to put power for the nation’s laws back into the hands of MPs and peers.
Conservative MPs and peers have indicated that they are prepared to vote against the legislation because they believe that Britain is better off in the EU.
Pro-Europeans have also mounted a legal case for Parliament to be given a vote on invoking Article 50, which will begin the process of leaving the EU. Mrs May said: “Now it is up the Government not to question, quibble or backslide on what we’ve been instructed to do but to get on with the job.
“Because those people who argue that Article 50 can only be triggered after agreement in both Houses of Parliament are not standing up for democracy, they’re trying to subvert it.”
She added: “They’re not trying to get Brexit right, they’re trying to kill it by delaying it.
“They’re insulting the intelligence of the British people and that’s why next week I can tell you that the Attorney General himself, Jeremy Wright, will act for the Government and resist them in the courts.”
However, Anna Soubry, a Conservative MP, suggested that she is prepared to vote against the legislation.
She told ITV’s Peston on Sunday: “This is a really important constitutional question. I stood on a very clear platform when I stood to be the member of Parliament for Broxtowe that I was in favour of staying in the European Union. It’s been my longheld belief all my life.”
She conceded her constituents in Broxtowe had narrowly voted in fa- vour of leaving the EU, but added: “Do I now put aside everything I’ve ever believed in and vote for something that I don’t believe in as a Member of Parliament?
“I genuinely, Robert, don’t know the answer.”
The legislation is also likely to face significant opposition in the House of Lords, where the Conservatives are in a significant minority.
Baroness Altmann, a pro-EU Conservative peer and former minister, said: “I haven’t changed my view. I think leaving the EU is something we need to think very carefully about.
“There are a large number of peers of all parties who will say that as a responsible Government we need to understand what this really means.
“Of course, we have to respect what the British people have said but we also have to make sure we steer the country in a responsible manner.”
Nicky Morgan, the former Education Secretary, warned that a “hard Brexit” in which the UK turns its back on the single market risks encouraging bigoted attitudes like those of Donald Trump. The Prime Minister told the Andrew
Marr Show on BBC One that the repeal measures would be an “important step”, adding: “What we are doing with the Great Repeal Bill is repealing that European Communities Act.
“That means the UK will be an independent sovereign nation, it will be making its own laws.”