BREXIT BLOCK WOULD BE LIKE HALTING HOLYROOD
May’s warning to MPs ahead of crunch vote
We all have a duty to implement result of the referendum
THERESA MAY WHAT SHE’LL TELL MPs TODAY
FAILING to deliver Brexit would be like Westminster refusing Scots a devolved parliament, Theresa May will say today.
The Prime Minister will make a desperate last-minute plea for MPs to back her deal in tomorrow’s Commons vote.
May will compare the need to honour the result of the EU referendum to the situation in Scotland in 1997.
She will say: “I ask MPs to consider the consequences of their actions on the faith of the British people in our democracy.
“Imagine if an anti-devolution House of Commons had said to the people of Scotland or Wales that, despite voting in favour of a devolved legislature, Parliament knew better and would overrule them. Or else force them to vote again.”
Scots voted 74 per cent in favour of a devolved parliament in 1997 and it was delivered two years later.
At the start of a momentous week at Westminster, May will ask MPs: “What if we found ourselves in a situation where Parliament tried to take the UK out of the EU in opposition to a Remain vote?
“People’s faith in the democratic process and their politicians would suffer catastrophic harm. We all have a duty to implement the result of the referendum.”
With the PM facing certain defeat in tomorrow night’s “meaningful vote”, Jeremy Corbyn is under pressure to move against her.
Yesterday, the Labour leader told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “We will table a motion of no confidence in the Government at a time of our choosing but it’s going to be soon, don’t worry about it.”
Corbyn is reluctant to table a no-confidence vote because he is set to lose it since the DUP, who prop up May’s Government, have said they won’t back it.
If he can’t force a general election, he would then have to consider the option of campaigning for a second EU referendum – something a majority of Labour members back but which he is lukewarm on.
Shadow Business Secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey said yesterday: “The odds of us tabling a vote of no confidence increase dramatically in the event that Theresa May’s deal falls, but ultimately the decision rests with Jeremy.”
A senior Labour source said: “There is now recognition that we cannot wait any longer.
“If May goes down to defeat and she does not resign and call an election, this is the moment we have to act.”
May’s plea to MPs to “do what is right for our country” is likely to fall on deaf ears.
Tory ministers are braced for a record-breaking 200-plus majority against the Government.
They have raised fears that backbench MPs are plotting a “coup”, which would see them take over Parliamentary business. The move, supposedly being spearheaded by former ministers Dominic Grieve and Oliver Letwin, would take the shape of an amendment to a Government motion calling for backbench business to take precedence.
The decision on whether the amendment is accepted will fall to Speaker John Bercow, who recently upended Commons convention to hand more power to Brexit rebels.
Former prime minister Sir John Major and SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford yesterday called on the Government to revoke Article 50 to halt Brexit.
Major warned it would be “morally reprehensible” to crash out of the EU without a deal.
Blackford said: “Everybody now knows Theresa May’s proposition is going to be voted down. I think we should be revoking article 50. The sensible thing to do now on a cross-party basis is put down a bill for a people’s vote.
“The SNP will work with others to find a way through this. We all must say a no-deal Brexit will be taken off the table.”