The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
No chance of Brexit deal in two-year period: Beckett
DEBATE: Former foreign secretary warns of potentially ‘catastrophic’ economic consequences for United Kingdom
A former foreign secretary has suggested there is no chance of Brexit negotiations concluding within a scheduled two-year period.
Labour’s Dame Margaret Beckett said she does not believe “for a second” that a deal will be done within the formal two-year negotiating period which will start once Theresa May triggers Article 50.
She also warned that the UK’s decision to leave the EU could have “potentially catastrophic” consequences for the nation’s economy.
Meanwhile, shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer urged his fellow Labour MPs not to block the Prime Minister from kicking off the Brexit process.
Speaking in the Commons as MPs debate a Bill which would allow Brexit talks to begin, Dame Margaret said: “These negotiations that we trigger with this Bill will be extraordinarily difficult and they will be very time consuming.
“I personally do not think for a second that they can be concluded within two years and I don’t think anybody who has ever negotiated anything would.
“It will be vital therefore to allow us to make preparation for possible transitional arrangements.”
She added: “Though I accept that decision (to Leave), and I will vote for the Bill, I still fear that its consequences both for our economy and our society are potentially catastrophic.”
Sir Keir had earlier stressed his party’s pro-European, internationalist background, adding that it recognised that the single market and customs union have benefited the UK for many years.
However, he urged his colleagues to respect the result of the referendum.
He said: “Yes, the result was close, yes, there were lies and half-truths – none worse than the false promise of £350 million a week to the NHS.
“Yes, technically the referendum is not legally binding but the result was not technical – it was deeply political.
“And politically the notion that the referendum was merely a consultation exercise to inform Parliament holds no water.
“When I was imploring people up and down the country to vote in the referendum and vote to Remain, I told them their vote really mattered, that a decision was going to be made.
“I was not inviting them to express a view and although we’re fiercely internationalist, fiercely pro-European, we in the Labour Party are, above all, democrats.”
Introducing the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill during its second reading, Brexit Secretary David Davis said people will view any attempt to halt the draft law’s progress “dimly”.
Opening the debate, Mr Davis said: “At the core of this Bill lies a very simple question – do we trust the people or not?
“The democratic mandate is clear: the electorate voted for a Government to give them a referendum.
“Parliament then voted to hold the referendum.
“The people then voted in that referendum and we are now honouring the result of that referendum – as we said we would.”
Labour’s Jo Stevens, who quit as shadow Welsh secretary over her party’s Brexit approach, compared triggering Article 50 to a funeral.
Ms Stevens said: “The single market is the lifeline to our manufacturing industry – what’s left of it – in steel, automotive and aerospace as well as to our farming and food production sector.
“The referendum result last year felt like a body blow.
“The Prime Minister’s (Lancaster House) speech felt like the life-support machine being switched off, and triggering Article 50 will for me feel like the funeral.”