The peers trying to slam the brakes on Brexit
Not surprisingly, given its complaints over the Government’s Brexit strategy, the 12-strong Lords constitution committee is filled with Europhiles. Here, ANDREW PIERCE charts their long-standing pro-EU views...
LORD MORGAN, 83
The Welsh historian and author has described Brexit as a ‘disaster’ and said the referendum was ‘ill-informed, or almost uninformed, guidance.’ The Labour peer added: ‘Is this not an example of cultural impoverishment as a result of economic impoverishment in the creation of the Brexit disaster? It was an advisory referendum. There is no doubt about that.’
LORD HUNT OF WIRRAL, 75
As chairman of the British Insurance Brokers’ Association, the Tory peer appealed to members ahead of the referendum: ‘I believe remaining in the EU would be a vote for business stability over uncertainty. A Remain vote would stimulate investment and boost confidence that we will be able to continue to trade freely under the EU freedom of services provision. That, in turn, would benefit both us within the sector and also our customers.’ He was believed to be the only member of Margaret Thatcher’s Cabinet to snub her and vote for Michael Heseltine in the first ballot when he challenged her leadership in 1990.
LORD DUNLOP, 58
A former Scotland Office minister and Remain supporter, the Tory peer, right, defied Theresa May last year when he voted in the Lords to give Parliament the final say over Brexit and allow MPs a ‘meaningful vote’ for any withdrawal deal.
LORD PANNICK, 61
Lawyer Lord Pannick represented millionaire investment manager Gina Miller in the Supreme Court as she became the figurehead of the fight for Parliament to have a vote on Brexit. The crossbench peer also backed a Labour amendment requiring a parliamentary vote on any final deal, specifying that it should take place before anything final is approved by either the European Commission or Parliament.
LORD MACLENNAN, 81
The Liberal Democrat was leader of the pro-Europe Social Democratic Party for 11 months until it folded in 1988. In a speech last year he said the EU had ‘brought an unprecedented 71 years of peace to western Europe’, asking: ‘Will the Government reveal to Parliament and the British people the damage to the economy that will result from Brexit if we leave the European Single Market?’
BARONESS CORSTON, 75
The former Labour MP was another who voted in the Lords last March to defeat the Government, calling for EU citizens to be guaranteed the right to stay in the UK post-Brexit. Analysis of her parliamentary votes shows a 73 per cent bias in the EU’s favour.
BARONESS DRAKE, 70
A lifelong trade unionist and former president of the TUC, the Labour peer has spoken of worries about the effect of Brexit. ‘Despite assurances from ministers,’ she said last year, ‘real concerns remain about the potential negative impact of Brexit on women’s rights. Little wonder there is concern that leaving the EU may result in weakening rights underpinning the lives of millions of women.’
LORD BEITH, 73
A second referendum on whether to accept any final deal or remain in the EU is Lib Dem policy. The former deputy leader of the party, right, described the Leave vote as a revolution that ‘will fade’ when it ‘ushers in a regime that is more authoritarian than that which it replaced, and one less able to deliver prosperity and security’.
LORD NORTON, 66
An academic who is professor of government at Hull University, the Tory peer wrote on his blog a few months after the Leave vote: ‘We have had a referendum that was not legally binding and without any threshold (or turnout) requirement. As a consequence of a simple majority to leave, we have challenges to the means of how we leave the EU and with some people, in effect, seeking to replay the referendum and calling for a second referendum.’ He is also one of the Tory rebels who voted to give Parliament a final say on any Brexit deal.
LORD JUDGE, 76
The former Lord Chief Justice said last year: ‘I simply cannot accept the constitutional validity of a referendum, which is offered to the public only because political parties of one side or another are not too happy about whether they will give a show of party unity in the House of Commons if the issue is debated.’ Self-mockingly describing himself as ‘an out-of-touch lawyer who does not know the political realities’, the crossbencher suggested the referendum had been ‘an extraordinary abdication by Parliament and representatives of the country of their own responsibilities. I make it clear that I regard referendums as extremely alarming in our constitutional arrangements.’ He also said he recognised the country voted in the referendum on the ‘clear understanding’ that the wish of the majority would prevail.
LORD MACGREGOR, 80
Transport Secretary in John Major’s Tory government, Lord MacGregor, right, last year told the Lords: ‘I suspect I am in a minority when I say that we should not regard the referendum vote as necessarily final.’ He even went on to suggest many voters were confused about what they were told by both camps. ‘They were voting not about the EU referendum but about issues they were unhappy about generally and wanted to make a protest vote,’ he said.
BARONESS TAYLOR, 70
Chairman of the Lords committee, Baroness Taylor was Labour leader of the Commons in 1997 when the Blair government ratified the Amsterdam Treaty. This transferred powers from national governments to the European Parliament, including over powers to regulate immigration. She was also Commons chief whip during the ratification of the Nice Treaty, which paved the way for new EU countries from Eastern Europe.