We’ll be awkward... Lords stress ‘right’ to challenge MPs

MEMBERS of the House of Lords insisted they had a right to obstruct a clean-break Brexit and even to try to keep Britain in the European Union yesterday.

On the second day of the debate on the EU (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill, peers said Prime Minister Theresa May had no mandate for a “hard Brexit” and they had a duty to challenge the House of Commons.

The brief Bill passed through the Commons earlier this month with no changes made.

But some of the more than 180 peers who took part made clear they will try to amend it when more detailed scrutiny of the legislation begins next week.

Duty

Labour’s Lord McKenzie said the referendum result had not spelt out how Brexit should occur, and peers “should push our authority to the limit in challenging the Government on their proposed deal”.

Labour’s Baroness Kennedy QC said she would vote against the Bill if key amendments were not passed.

Peers’ value was their independence and expertise, she said. “Are we supposed to abandon that experience when it really matters and when we are dealing with the most important issue of our lifetimes?” Conservative peer Baroness Altmann said the Lords had a duty to speak out on the risks to ordinary people of a Brexit which put “politics above economics”.

Leave voters did not have a monopoly on patriotism, she told them: “We do not question your love for this country. Please do not question ours.”

Crossbencher Baroness Murphy quoted the Daily Express’s advice to peers not to “thwart the will of the people”, insisting “that notion does not mean that Parliament should become the poodle of the people”.

And Tory former Chancellor Lord Lamont warned against undermining negotiations.

The views of the 48 per cent who voted Remain must not be ignored, said the Leave backer: “Equally, those who voted to remain have a duty not to undermine the Government’s negotiating position.”

Tory Lord Gilbert advised the official Remain campaign but said peers should pass the Bill unchanged so as not to “tie the Government’s hands” in its talks with the EU.

“Leave supporters knew what they were doing and as democrats we must accept their decision. We now have to work together to get the best deal for Britain,” said Lord Gilbert.