This sneering House is asking for reform

It Is hard to imagine a worse example of arrogant and brazen contempt for democracy.

From their lofty perches in the unelected House of Lords, a group of peers, led by tory former financial journalist Baroness Wheatcroft, are plotting ways to delay or block Britain’s exit from the EU.

With a casual disregard for the outcome of the referendum, they plan to vote down any Brexit laws, extract some token concessions from Brussels, force a second vote and, hey presto! secure a result more to their liking.

Astonishingly, Baroness Wheatcroft argues that all it would take from the EU is some ‘minor adjustments’ to freedom of movement rules and the public – millions of whom voted Leave explicitly to restore proper controls over immigration – would happily back staying in.

As for her ludicrous suggestion that a committee of the great and good should go back through the arguments of the campaign to ‘prove’ the public were misled into voting for Brexit, what would it make of the Remain side’s apocalyptic – and we now know, hollow – predictions of economic disaster?

For elected MPs to attempt to derail Brexit and defy the clearly expressed will of the 17.4million Leave voters would be outrageous enough. But coming from the ermine-clad denizens of the upper chamber, who lack any democratic mandate whatsoever, it reeks of total disdain for voters.