EU withdrawal law can’t choke debate

DEAR Editor, The attempt by Theresa May to make law a leaving date for EU withdrawal shows the fear that Brexiteers have on debating the future.

It will backfire as no law can choke off debate. The Prime Minister had to be forced by the Supreme Court to obey the rules and promise that parliament could debate the final deal in 2019.

But she has always said she would leave even if parliament rejected the deal and this move is an attempt to make Remainers give up.

It will fail. The parliamentary rule is clear. No vote is ever final, only reality is final and even leaving can be reversed.

However, this vote and Article 50 can and must be reversed. When Mrs May was asked by journalists five times whether Article 50 can be voted down, she avoided the question. She knows it can, and when it is reversed Britain can remain within the EU.

The only constitutional issue is the need for a Third Referendum to reverse current laws. There have been two already, one in 1975 in favour of the EU by a two thirds majority, and the 2016 narrow vote 48 per cent to 52 per cent to quit. It is now the case that parliament has handed over decisions on the EU to referendums and so a third vote will be needed.

What Mrs May is currently doing is making it clear she wants to avoid this vote by making a temporary law on the leaving date.

It is not rocket science to assume she knows the deal currently being cobbled together will be unacceptable, so she wants to avoid a vote taking place in 2019. Trevor Fisher Stafford