Weeks after Brexit Day, a £20m D-Day tribute to Europe’s British saviours
Plan for heroes’ memorial ... as Tory Remainers set to rebel in Commons
A POWERFUL new memorial to the troops who died on D-Day is to be unveiled on the beaches of Normandy – just weeks after Britain is due to finally sever its ties with the European Union.
The monument, likely to be a series of walls bearing the names of the fallen, will be officially opened on the 75th anniversary of D-Day on June 6, 2019.
The symbolic gesture – funded by £20million from Chancellor Philip Hammond’s first Budget on Wednesday – will highlight the sacrifices made by Britain to bring peace to Europe. Supporters of the EU argue that the organisation has helped to preserve that peace.
The D-Day anniversary falls shortly after ‘Brexit Day’, which is scheduled to be in late March 2019. Prime Minister Theresa May has said she will trigger Article 50, starting the two-year process of leaving the EU, by the end of this month.
Plans for the memorial come as Tory MPs are poised to revolt against Mrs May to ensure that Parliament has a meaningful final say over the Brexit deal. The House of Lords is expected to support an amendment on Tuesday demanding that, when Mrs May comes to Parliament with her Brexit deal, MPs will not be forced to make a stark choice between accepting it or crashing out of the EU without an agreement.
About 20 Conservative MPs are prepared to defy Mrs May to back the Lords’ amendment when it returns to the Commons. One rebel, Anna Soubry, today demands Parliament should be given ‘a role in deciding this nation’s future when... Article 50 becomes what I fear will be a cold and harsh reality’.
Writing in today’s Mail on Sunday, Ms Soubry says: ‘It is not a denial of democracy to seek to ensure that the Brexit people voted for on June 23 is achieved on the best possible terms. If we are faced with a potentially catastrophic ‘falling off a cliff’, the least we can do is to provide a parliamentary safety net.’
Last night, Mrs May hailed the Normandy memorial, which could resemble the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, as a ‘fitting tribute’ to the 21,000 British troops who died in the campaign. She said: ‘We must never forget the courage, sacrifice and selflessness of the British servicemen and women who gave their lives.’