Brexit saboteur
He’s branded undemocratic as he reveals plans to use unelected Peers to water down EU exit
THERESA May last night vowed to face down a ‘profoundly undemocratic plot’ by Nick Clegg and a band of unelected peers to frustrate Brexit.
The former Lib Dem leader said he would take advantage of a High Court ruling saying Parliament must have a vote on leaving the EU to try to derail the Government’s plans.
Mr Clegg – who left his party with only eight MPs after he took it to the brink of annihilation at last year’s general election – said he would table amendments at Westminster which allow only for a so-called ‘soft Brexit’.
This would involve keeping Britain inside the single market, and continuing to allow EU migrant workers free access to the UK. Critics said it was proof the only reason MPs had been demanding the courts give them a say was so they could sabotage Brexit.
The Prime Minister yesterday said she was ‘confident’ that an appeal to the Supreme Court would succeed – and that she would be able to launch Brexit negotiations without a vote by MPs or peers. In a series of phone calls to European leaders, she insisted her timetable for triggering article 50 – the two-year process for leaving the EU – in March would not be blown off course by the row with the courts. On a visit to Germany, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson also insisted it was full-steam ahead.
He said: ‘You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube. I would really not read too much into the legal decisions that you have just seen.’
But one of Mrs May’s ministers made it plain the Government would fight Mr Clegg all the way if it came to the crunch. David Jones, Minister of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union, said: ‘Nick Clegg has given the game away.
‘He didn’t like the answer the people gave in the referendum and now he’s admitted he wants to work with other parties to try to block the process of Britain leaving the EU. It is profoundly anti-democratic.’
Yesterday, there was continuing fury about the High Court’s decision to force a vote in Parliament on triggering article 50. If the appeal to the Supreme Court fails, it will mean the introduction of an Act of Parliament.
Mr Clegg and other Remainers would then be able to amend the legislation to try to get their own way. In a radio interview, the former Lib Dem leader made clear he was already plotting how to do this. Mr Clegg told the BBC: ‘We will seek ... to amend the legislation such that Parliament would say to Government that it should pursue a soft Brexit. There should be some means by which the British people can have a say on the final deal.’ He added: ‘If the Government, on the other hand, digs its heels in and says, “we are going to go for a more self-harming, hard Brexit and not give anyone a say on the final package”, then of course I think people will say “hang on a minute, we are not sure we are going to give you the consent to proceed on that basis”.’
There is particular concern that the 104 Lib Dem peers in the Lords could block or delay article 50.
Yesterday, a Tory peer who supports Remain said she would side with attempts to frustrate the will of the 17.4million who voted to leave. Baroness Wheatcroft said Mrs May’s deadline of triggering Article 50 by the end of
‘Plotting to subvert will of the people’
If the Government goes for a selfharming hard Brexit, people will say: hang on, I’m not sure we’re going to give you consent to proceed NICK CLEGG YESTERDAY
March looked like ‘an impossible target’. She added: ‘I think that it’s only right to delay until we have a clearer idea of what it actually entails and I think there will be others in the Lords who feel the same way. How many, it’s hard to say, but I think there could be a majority who’d be in favour of delaying Article 50.’
Labour MPs also said they would vote to block Brexit. Tottenham MP David Lammy said: ‘My constituents voted overwhelmingly to Remain. So I’ll represent my constituents in Parliament.’
Remainers have already held meetings on to use the judgment to force the Government to reveal its hand. Tory ex-cabinet minister Theresa Villiers said: ‘Frankly I think it would be a constitutional outrage if unelected Liberal Democrat peers were to stand in the way of a clear result of a referendum in which 33 million people took part.’
Fellow Tory MP Charlie Elphicke added: ‘It is shameful to see unelected peers publicly plotting to subvert the will of the people.’
In a series of calls yesterday, Mrs May told European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and Germany’s Angela Merkel she is confident the Supreme Court will overturn the High Court’s ‘disappointing’ ruling. The case is due to be heard in December, with a verdict due in January.
No10 dismissed concerns that it was wrong to criticise the judges who took the decision. The PM’s spokesman said: ‘I don’t think the British judiciary is being undermined.’
Ministers have privately warned the decision could delay the triggering of Article 50 by up to a year. But senior Government sources said that – if the appeal was lost – emergency legislation would be introduced which could be passed within a week. The time for debates would be limited and the Commons and Lords would be ‘dared’ to defy the wishes of the of the public.
Opposition MPs who support Remain yesterday criticised the Daily Mail and other national newspapers over their coverage of the High Court ruling.
They claimed it was wrong to attack the panel of three judges, headed by the Lord Chief Justice, which delivered the verdict. The Mail’s front page was headlined ‘Enemies of the people’, with pictures of the three judges.
Labour spokesman Richard Burgon said it was ‘unacceptable’ to attack the judges personally. He criticised Liz Truss, the Lord Chancellor, for not speaking out in defence of the ‘independence’ of the judiciary.
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