A threat to Brexit and our democracy

The calamitous situation in Parliament is being exploited by a small band of MPs determined to use any mechanism, however constitutionally absurd and deleterious to the public’s faith in our democratic institutions, to stop Brexit. At the centre of the battle is the prospect of Britain leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement in 10 weeks’ time.

It is perfectly reasonable – self-evident, even – for MPs to say that they would prefer a good deal to a no-deal Brexit. It is equally fine to argue that there is still time to correct the mistakes in Theresa May’s agreement that led to its defeat last week. This would require the EU to see sense, of course.

But there is nothing reasonable or logical about ruling out no deal altogether. Not only would doing so scandalously cripple the UK’s negotiating position at the very moment the Government should be demanding concessions from Brussels, but if it involves MPs voting to excise from legislation the date of the UK’s exit from the EU – 29 March 2019 – it would remove the only guarantee the public has that Brexit will happen.

Diehard Remain MPs – on the Tory backbenches and in other parties – know this full well. Despite portraying themselves as the sensible guardians of the national interest, moderate voices of reason and caution, their real plan is to force MPs into a disastrous choice between a self-inflicted bad deal, which could easily end up being Remain with no voting rights, or the cancellation of Brexit altogether. In doing so, they are seeking to overturn Parliamentary procedures in a way that risks permanently neutering the executive, allows a minority to wreak havoc, and smashes the constitution beyond repair. Such MPs are playing with political nitroglycerin.

There are, in practice, only two ways to eliminate the risk of no deal entirely. The first is for MPs to accept the Withdrawal Agreement as it stands. And, if anything, there is a real risk that the deal will become even worse in Theresa May’s desperate attempt to get it through Parliament. Labour will only support the Government if it signs the UK up to a permanent customs union with the EU, an arrangement which would cripple Britain for generations. If Turkey is the model Labour has in mind, the UK would be a sitting duck, access to our market sold off to other countries with no requirement for them to reciprocate. Brexiteer dreams of an independent trade policy would be dashed, and the Tories would probably split.

The second way to take no deal “off the table” entirely is to revoke Article 50 and therefore cancel Brexit itself. In this sense, it is impossible to separate Labour’s campaign against no deal from the efforts of some rebel MPs to wrestle control of the Brexit process away from the Government and lay the legislative groundwork for a second referendum or revocation of Article 50. All of this aided by Speaker John Bercow, whose partisan behaviour shames his office.

Indeed, militant Remainers are not only tampering with Brexit: they are undermining the last vestiges of faith in our democratic system. It ought to be that what the country votes for it gets – and it not only voted for Brexit in the referendum but in a general election, too. A no-deal Brexit would not be ideal, but at the end of this sorry process it may be the only outcome that in any way resembles what the people voted for in 2016. Millions have lost trust in the Tory party’s ability to see a proper Brexit through and they are now losing trust in Parliament’s willingness to represent the popular will. If Remainers delegitimise our constitutional mechanisms any further, they imperil our democracy.

‘Millions have lost trust in the Tories’ ability to get a proper Brexit and they are now losing trust in Parliament’