Why I WOULD be delighted to back Theresa
( ...and all it’ll take is the tiniest of tweaks)
ON TUESDAY evening at the London Palladium, I was surprised and flattered that so many people turned out to hear me talk about Brexit. I fear I will never be as popular on its famous revolving stage as the great Sir Bruce Forsyth once was. But if only we can sort out one detail from the EU Withdrawal Agreement and ensure Brexit, then I could retire to sell ice creams at the theatre – just as I did during the interval.
And given that I took more than £480, it may, in fact, be my real vocation.
It was a joy to meet so many people and hear what they had to say about the issue that has dominated political life for more than two and a half years.
I got the strong sense from everyone I spoke to that they wanted Brexit delivered as soon as possible.
The Northern Ireland backstop has always been the biggest sticking point in the negotiations – and for a very good reason. I am as determined as anyone that the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland should remain as peaceful and problemfree as it is today.
However, in its current form, the backstop – which would allow for an open border between the two countries, leaving Northern Ireland subject to certain rules of the EU’s single market – would last indefinitely.
The whole point of leaving the EU is to take back control, not to leave the EU with the potential for lasting effective power over trade and regulations in Northern Ireland, or any other part of the UK.
If this issue can be resolved, then I would be content to support the Prime Minister’s Withdrawal Agreement.
Geoffrey Cox, the muchrespected Attorney General, is in Brussels trying to persuade the EU to agree to a legally binding date to the backstop.
It would be wrong to jump the gun, but if he can achieve this it would mark a fundamental change to the agreement and allow Brexiteers such as me to accept it. Once we can secure a limit to the backstop, all the other imperfections in Mrs May’s deal, such as continued meddling by the European Court of Justice and continuing to pay huge sums into EU coffers, become much less problematic.
The key difference is that these are all time-limited, whereas the backstop, as currently outlined, is potentially everlasting.
Once a final date is put on it, our objections to the deal, like the effects of its provisions, fade away.
I really do not mind what form of words the Attorney General and the EU agree on regarding the backstop – as long as it expires before the next election and has the same legal status as the deal. And I do not agree with those who say the Withdrawal Agreement has to be reopened to solve the backstop problem. It is itself an appendix to the treaty, so I would be happy with a further appendix, as this would have equal legal force.
In my view, that would satisfy most of us who are worried, and it may also help those who say the Withdrawal Agreement cannot be reopened to save face. I take a practical and not a theological attitude towards these matters.
Those who have suggested that I and my Conservative colleagues in the European Research Group have gone out of our way to make things difficult for the Prime Minister could not be more wrong. Our aim has consistently been to follow the commitments made in the 2017 Tory election manifesto and implicit in the 2016 referendum result.
THAT some Cabinet ministers have undermined collective responsibility and tried to thwart Mrs May is hardly our fault.
The Prime Minister says it is still her fervent hope that the UK leaves the EU on March 29. I share her sentiments.
If – and I stress if – she can secure the necessary assurances on the backstop I have outlined, I would be delighted to support her deal and help avoid any delay to Brexit.
It is not my job to tell other Conservative MPs what to do, but I am sure many other passionate advocates of Brexit would take the same pragmatic and patriotic view.
At long last, we would have delivered our promise to the 17.4 million who voted to leave the EU in June 2016.
And, as soon as that happens, we Conservatives can put our differences behind us, reunite and focus on winning the next election – and keeping Jeremy Corbyn out of Number 10.