An MP can shape a country’s future

LONE backbench MPs often feel they have little opportunity to influence the future of the country in an era when a government has a strong majority.

But Theresa May today depends on the support of Northern Ireland’s DUP to stay in power – and opportunities are bountiful for individual MPs to ensure that their concerns are heard. The PM needs no reminding that a rebellion in her own ranks could throw her plans for the Brexit negotiations into chaos.

It would be hard enough for her to lead a government during less tumultuous times, but she is in a position of weakness as the clock ticks towards Britain’s March 2019 departure date.

Brexit is an issue of such unique importance to the future of the each nation in the UK that many Conservative and Labour MPs will think twice before accepting instructions from whips as to how to vote. They will consider not just their duty to stand up for their constituents and the country, but also how their actions in the months ahead will influence the lives of future generations.

Some MPs on both sides of the arguments will feel they have more in common with people in different parties than with their immediate neighbours on the green benches of the Commons. As we have seen in recent decades, Europe is an issue which cements convictions and stirs passions of exceptional strength.

Conservative Anna Soubry and Labour’s Chuka Umunna have joined forces with representatives of Plaid Cymru, the SNP, the Lib Dems and the Green party to form a new all-party group determined to oppose a “hard” Brexit.

This could prove an important vehicle for MPs who do not want the UK to lose the benefits of the Single Market and the Customs Union to co-ordinate actions.

However, the real challenge Labour and Tory supporters of continued membership of the Single Market and Customs Union face is winning the argument within their own parties.

First Minister Carwyn Jones last month argued that the UK should remain a member of the European Economic Area, which allows countries including Norway to enjoy the benefits of Single Market membership while outside the EU, saying: “Why jump off a cliff when you can walk over a bridge?”

The scene is set for fierce internal battles in the two biggest parties. Clwyd West Conservative MP David Jones, a former Brexit minister, has claimed that “fanatically pro-EU MPs, both Labour and misguided Tory ones, too, have hatched a cunning plot” to subvert last year’s referendum result.

The dividing lines are as stark as the stakes are high. In such an atmosphere, Mrs May has the challenge of leading the country.

Her appeal for members of other parties to share ideas on dealing with common problems was met with derision, but MPs from different parties have worked together throughout the Brexit drama.

We need similar trust, candour and goodwill to navigate the many other great challenges of our time which must not be neglected.