Fury at ‘unpatriotic’ Hezza’s plot to block Brexit in Lords
LORD Heseltine was branded “unpatriotic” vowed to lead a plot Brexit.
The Tory grandee, who has taken part in less than three per cent of votes in the Lords, has said he will back efforts to give Parliament a veto over leaving the EU.
He and other peers want to be able to overturn the will of the people after the Government has negotiated Britain’s exit terms in what has been described as a “meaningful” vote on the final deal.
But last night Theresa May stood firm against the plot by the unelected peers and insisted there would be no changes to the Bill to trigger Article 50.
Lord Heseltine pledged in a newspaper article to team up with Lib Dem and Labour peers to amend the Bill.
The 83-year-old multi-millionaire businessman said: “The fight back starts here. My opponents will argue that the people have spoken, the mandate secured and the future cast. My experience stands against this argument.”
Leave campaigners were left outraged by the comments from the yesterday after he to derail man who forced Margaret Thatcher from Downing Street over her tough stance on Europe.
Richard Tice, co-chairman of the pro-Brexit Leave Means Leave group, said: “It is of little surprise that Lord Heseltineb – who has historically put the interests of the European Union ahead of those of Britain – will try to sabotage Article 50.
“Lord Heseltine’s attempt to weaken the position of the Prime Minister ahead of negotiations with the EU is a truly unpatriotic act. Unelected, unpatriotic, out of touch, establishment figures like Blair, Mandelson and now Heseltine seem intent on trying to thwart democracy. I urge others in the Lords to vote as patriots – respect the will of the people and do what is right for Britain.”
Tory MP Conor Burns, a close associate of Baroness Thatcher, said on Twitter: “Lord Heseltine to do his bit for Government’s productivity drive by voting against Bill on EU and driving up his 2.75 per cent voting record in Lords.”
A Labour source in the Lords has said the party “would be likely to win handsomely” in a vote on the issue in the coming weeks – and again in a bid to guarantee rights of EU nationals already in the UK – if the Government does not come forward with concessions.
But Tory chairman Sir Patrick McLoughlin insisted the Brexit Bill should go through the Lords without peers making any changes to it.
Sir Patrick yesterday said the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill, which will give Mrs May the power to begin exit negotiations under Article 50, should go through the Lords without changes. He told BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show: “We will want to see how the Bill evolves once it’s out of the House of Lords.
“But look, the Bill got an overwhelming majority, one of the biggest majorities a Bill has got on its third reading in the House of Commons and it’s gone to the House of Lords.
“The Prime Minister has said that there will be a vote once the negotiations are concluded. The Prime Minister won’t conclude the negotiations if she thinks she’s got a bad deal.”
Asked if the Government was ready for a “fight” with peers, he said: “We’ll see whether we’re going to have a fight or not.
“The Bill should go through as it has come from the House of Commons, the elected House of Commons.
“We can’t now start the referendum.
“The Prime Minister will not come back to the House of Commons with a deal that she cannot recommend, so that is what we have got to do. We’ve got to give the Prime Minister as much flexibility in the negotiations over those next two years, not giving her a backstop to other issues.” secondguessing