Heseltine has no right to attempt blocking Brexit
NEVER in modern British history has there been a worse bunch of sore losers than the Remoaners. More than eight months after the referendum they still refuse to accept the decisive outcome. Gripped by their fanatical worship of Brussels, oblivious to democracy, they continue with their destructive campaign to thwart the will of the people.
So far most of their agitation has been laughably ineffective. They tried to whip up fears about an impending economic collapse, only for growth and global investment to accelerate. They have been just as mistaken in their hope that the electorate is changing its mind on EU withdrawal.
Displaying his surreal disconnection from the public, Tony Blair this month called on voters to “rise up” in revolt against Brexit, while his fellow Europhile Peter Mandelson squawked his demand for another referendum. This is all based on massive self-delusion. There is not the slightest sign of regret among voters. If anything, attitudes have hardened in favour of Brexit.
But the pro-EU brigade still has not given up. In its fight against British independence it is shifting its attention to the House of Lords, where the Government’s Bill to trigger Article 50 will be debated over the next fortnight. From today the Second Chamber will become an arena for attempted obstruction, ermined pomposity and anti-patriotic sneers at the public.
YESTERDAY Tory peer Lord Heseltine trumpeted his determination to lead a “fightback” against the Government’s Brexit plans. Even if the roar of this once fabled “Big Beast” is now more of a croak, age and experience have certainly not withered his ideological devotion to the European project. He remains as misguided as ever, wailing about the “uncertainty” of Britain’s departure and pushing for Parliament to halt the process if public opinion changes.
Lord Heseltine is joined in his crusade by anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller, the wealthy fund manager who took the Article 50 case to the Supreme Court. Her success in that legal action has fuelled her feelings for the referendum verdict, as she now demands that the House of Lords stands up to the Government by backing an array of amendments to the Article 50 Bill. The Lords, she declared yesterday amid her usual talk about “Parliamentary sovereignty”, must show some “backbone” in contrast to the “cowardice” of the Commons which overwhelmingly voted the legislation through without any changes.
It is a joke to pretend that an unaccountable institution, packed with political hasbeens, souped-up councillors, dreary apparatchiks and shrill quangocrats, can be the champion of democratic sovereignty in a struggle with an elected assembly. The Lords is a hopelessly anachronistic, unwieldy body which should have no say in the governance of 21stcentury Britain. With 838 peers it is only exceeded in size by the National People’s Congress of China, another chamber renowned for its detachment from democracy. Nor can there be any surprise that in spirit the Lords is drawn to the European Union, a similar oligarchy filled with disdain for the public and addicted to selfserving extravagance.
There is no doubt that, with figures such as Heseltine and Mandelson on the rampage, the Upper House is out to cause
OFFICIAL figures show that in the last year there were an incredible 626,000 national insurance registrations by EU citizens yet only 113,000 of the new arrivals had a job to go to. The eagerness to argue that we owe a living to migrants is the same progressive, pro-EU impulse that dismisses the concept of nationhood and obsesses with cultural diversity at the expense of national heritage.
Another specious Remoaner argument is that Parliament must be given the final say on any Brexit deal negotiated by the Government. But this is a further attempt to create a wrecking obstacle for such a move would rob ministers of all leverage in negotiations with Brussels.
Their hands cannot be tied like this. They have to have the ability to walk away from talks without any agreement if the EU refuses to negotiate realistically. Eurocrat antics such as demanding a £60billion exit fee, the current ludicrous claim emanating from Brussels, are intolerable. As Theresa May has said: no deal is better than a bad deal.
If pro-EU peers decide to try to block the decision of the electorate they will pave the way for the abolition of the Lords. Paradoxically, by acting so undemocratically, they will have performed a service for democracy by accelerating the demise of their despised, anachronistic institution.
‘The Upper House is out to cause trouble’