Stop stalling and pass the Withdrawal Bill

If anything, the events of the summer have proved that the sooner the UK leaves the EU the better

Far from having lost confidence in Brexit, I can’t believe anyone still wants to stay in the EU. And yet, even after the summer we’ve had, the hardcore Remainers won’t give in. On Thursday the Commons meets to debate the Withdrawal Bill and some MPS will seek to amend and undermine it. Are they blind? Are they deaf? Did they sleep through the Euro horror movie of the past few weeks? Well, here’s a refresher for them. I call it: I Know What EU Did Last Summer.

Remain made three big claims in the referendum. First, that the EU is value for money. Secondly, that the EU hardly affects our lives. Thirdly, that the EU is an alliance of equals. The truth was hard to determine; numbers were oddly elusive. It’s only since the referendum, as the EU has shown its hand, that the facts have become known.

For starters, it turns out that membership of Team Europe wasn’t as cheap as some people said. The EU thinks that we might owe it up to €100 billion, and even if its estimate is flagrant cheek, the idea that we have debts to settle is not. There are two years of contributions to the budget that we’ll owe before we leave, along with loan liabilities, pension promises and expenses such as the relocation of EU authorities based on British soil. The UK disputes the EU’S final tally, but even as our Government insists that it has no legal obligation to pay anything at all, David Davis, our chief negotiator, has spoken about Britain’s “moral obligations” and the UK obviously hopes it can bribe its way into a free trade deal. The key point isn’t that we will part with some cash – who honestly thought we never would? – but how much we’ve been paying all these years to be a part of a third-rate club. In 2016/17, our net contribution was estimated to be about £8.1 billion, which, most years, works out to be the second highest in the EU. No wonder they are so, ahem, sad to see us go.

And what did we get in return? A thousand miles of red tape.

You may recall that during the referendum no one could agree on how many British laws were written by the EU: estimates seemed to range from “none” to “all of them”. I always suspected that part of the reason for the confusion was that the British establishment was opposed to Brexit, so Whitehall never did the research necessary to make a fair case for it. Perhaps I was being paranoid – but now that the UK government is cooking up legislation to make Brexit happen, all the details are suddenly and mysteriously at its fingertips. According to the policy paper written to accompany the Withdrawal Bill, “there are currently over 12,000 EU regulations in force” and “there have been around 7,900 statutory instruments which have implemented EU legislation”. Read the numbers and weep. For decades, Europe has been writing a great deal of our law for us – treating us like children.

Only now is the EU being honest about it. Michel Barnier, the Europeans’ chief negotiator, has said that they will use these negotiations to “educate” Britain about how Europe works – exposing the greatest lie told about the EU, that it respects its individual members. The real EU is a condescending bully.

This summer, the EU’S boys have called the British negotiating team nostalgic, unclear and unready. Well, we’re big enough to take it. This is what happens in negotiations: both sides engage in smack talk, like boxers at a weigh-in, before the deal is struck just before the final bell. The frustrating thing is that Mr Davis must feel like he’s boxing with a man who has his hands tied behind his back. If these talks give the appearance of going nowhere, it might be because Mr Barnier isn’t really empowered to do anything. Depending on what you’ve heard, either he is waiting for the Germans to finish their elections to then tell him what to do, or else he is paralysed by the EU’S lack of internal logic. This summer, the French and Poles have been at each other’s throats over economic reform and allegations of killing democracy. Jeanclaude Juncker, representing the EU Commission, called the EU Parliament and its perpetually empty chamber “ridiculous”. Brussels is as messy and incoherent as it’s ever been.

In short, most of the events that succeeded the referendum have validated the vote to Leave. So, why would any MP want to fiddle with the Withdrawal Bill? For some (Jeremy Corbyn) it is an excuse to mess with the Government. For others (the Remainiacs) it is a question of dogma. All the Withdrawal Bill does is convert EU law to British law so that, when we leave the EU, our law makes sense. Apart from disingenuous claims about the bill undermining parliamentary scrutiny, there is no sound reason on God’s green Earth to oppose it. Those who seek to undermine it betray elements of ideology bordering on religious fundamentalism. And be under no illusion: for some Remainers this has turned into a moral crusade that is completely removed from the dull, grey facts.

They are testing the public’s patience. Whether you love Brexit or are merely reconciled to it, most of us would like the country to hurry up and get on with it.