The Peterborough Evening Telegraph

Brexit will hAppen promises city MP

Stewart Jackson warns the Lords not to block key legislatio­n

- By Joel Lamy joel.lamy@jpress.co.uk Twitter: @PTJoelLamy

Don’t panic, Brexit will happen - that’s the message from Stewart Jackson, MP for Peterborou­gh and a member of the Government’s team which is preparing for the UK to leave the EU. Vocal euroscepti­c Mr Jackson, theParliam­entaryPriv­ate Secretary to the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, David Davis, is not concerned by the High Court ruling last week which stated that the Government­requires parliament­ary approval before it can trigger Article 50.

Although an appeal was quickly launched against the ruling, Mr Jackson took to Twitter to tell his 18,000 followers: “Brexiteers should keep calm and carry on - The voice of the people WILL be heard and Article 50 WILL be invoked. We are leaving the EU.”

Speaking to the Peterborou­gh Telegraph, Mr Jackson said the 61 per cent of city residents who backed Leave in June’s referendum would get their wish.

“We have to respect the decision of the judges and, if necessary, the Government will put its case to Parliament to invoke Article 50 early next year,” said Mr Jackson.

“There will be a lot of debate in Parliament­aboutwhat deal the UK gets and that’s healthy in a democracy. And for those that voted to Remain your voice will be heard.

“We should not over-react fromthisle­galcase. It doesnot fundamenta­lly alter the fact the decision has been taken. The vast bulk of elected politician­s will carry out the wish of the UK people.”

On the prospect of the House of Lords not passing an Act of Parliament, the Conservati­ve MP said: “There are a minority of people in the Lords who are determined to ignore the views of the British people such as the 100 unelected Liberal Democrats who have no mandate.

“They will be putting the future of the House of Lords on the line if they go against the views of the people.

“It would be unacceptab­le to do that. Legislatio­n put forward for the referendum to take place did go through the Lords and was strongly supported in the Commons. And it was in our manifesto. For the Lords to thwart the decision will have major ramificati­ons for the constituti­on.”

Mr J ackson was a l s o pleased with how the economy has held up since the referendum.

Acknowledg­ing that there might be “some bumps in the road,” he said: “The doommonger­s who said the economy would go into recession, that there would be a massive drop in house prices and a massive spike in inflation, they have been comprehens­ively ridiculed.”

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