The public think Parliament is out to delay or stop Brexit
March 27, 2019 158 Comments
A recent Comres poll shows just 3% of the public think Parliament is doing a good job on Brexit, with 78% judging it to be doing a bad job.
The public wants to get on with Brexit, and dislike the way Parliament is trying to slow it down or stop it altogether. When asked about delay, 41% want to leave with no delay, and 33% want to leave with just a short delay. Staying in as a permanent option has only 35% support, showing a good number of Remain voters now want to get on with it and accept the result of the referendum.
The public are very critical of both Mrs May and Mr Corbyn, and think the negotiations have gone badly. They blame both the government for poor handling, and Parliament for helping undermine the UK bargaining position by seeking to rule out no deal and demanding the UK makes concessions. 6% think the Agreement is a good outcome for the UK with 40% thinking it is a good outcome for the EU.
Opinion is shifting amongst young voters, where more are coming round to the idea of leaving. Amongst 18-24 year olds 36% now wish to leave with 43% wanting to stay. The rest are don't knows.
Yesterday the Telegraph published another new Comres poll. This showed 55% of the public thinking Parliament is trying to stop Brexit, and 54% think Remain MPs and the establishment have damaged the UK's negotiating position. Support for Leave amongst under 35 year olds is up by 7%, with bigger increases for older people.
MPs seeking to control the agenda in Parliament to hold a series of indicative votes should consider these findings carefully before voting. More than half the public think withdrawing our notification to leave would damage our democracy yet there are those in Parliament who favour this option.
Pominoz
Sir John,
It is hardly surprising that almost the whole of the UK population consider that Parliament is making a hash of Brexit. The chaos currently being seen in the HoC is certainly destroying the traditional party system and 'real' Brexit politicians such as you, the ERG and a few others should not, as the future unfolds, risk the wrath of the public which will inevitably be felt by many Conservative MPs if an early General Election is called.
Surely it is time to define your difference from the mainstream, discredited, Conservative Party by the creation, through affiliation with positive like-minded individuals regardless of previous political 'labels', of a new Party which aims to deliver the clean WTO Brexit which will see this country thrive.
The underlying driving force of almost all those who voted to leave the EU is the desire and determination to see the proper restoration of UK sovereignty and, as such, calling the new party 'The Sovereignty Party' would leave no doubt in the minds of voters what the fundamental principles of the party actually were. A possible alternative would be 'the UK Sovereignty Party' but, under no circumstances, should it be called the British Sovereignty Party – the BS Party. We have had enough of that from the current lot.
Alternatively, please take on the role of PM from the current no-hoper. Next week would not be soon enough.
Parliament and the government have now had nearly 3 years to discuss our leaving. They seem to us outsiders to have done precisely nothing. Now, with just weeks left, they are looking into the various options.
If any of us out here ran our businesses or even our households like that, we would be either in prison for tax avoidance or at least bankrupt and in the gutter.
Never vote for her deal. Do not give in to blackmail. Remainers will never get in office again. The have betrayed the will of the public. We voted for a clean break Brexit. May knows this because she enunciated this in her Lancaster speech.
Since this date May, civil service and remainers have tried everything to stop Brexit. Now we have the majority of parliament trying a coup of govt to stop it! Traitor Letwin and others need to be ousted.
T May is relaxed with job completed. Brexit f…ed up.
JR, reach across the house and being the govt down. General election would sort this out. Remainers will be toast.
Show a backbone and how steadfast leavers are. It will also get rid of May. Win win.
Nice punchline. Made me laugh in my gallows mood.
Stephen Priest
You have to stop your colleagues thinking if they don't vote for the Withdrawal Agreement there will be no Brexit.
Withdrawal Agreement is not Brexit.
May will still be in charge. Even if she agrees to go she will stay. She will not keep her promise.
With or without May the Withdrawal Agreement is still very bad.
If Brexit is delayed and betrayed, let the public see the betrayal in clear daylight. Don't let the betrayal be hidden under the Withdrawal Agreement
Agree absolutely.
Absolutely agreed. Let the public see the remainer traitors for what they are. People out here are seething.
Nigl
Obviously Johnson and his campaign manager JRM can see the opportunity presented by TM moving on so will do/agree anything to achieve that, the WA is now secondary and in any event, whoever gets the top job can and will blame the predecessor.
Does anyone know the current status of leaving? Mrs May has signed up to our leaving on April 12, or possibly May 22, using powers she may not legally possess. EU laws may cease to apply here on March 29, or they may not, depending on the possible passage of an SI which may itself not be legally valid.
Parliament now runs the show but does not have the power to do anything but gas, grumble and vote. Government has the power to do what it likes but only likes what everyone else doesn't like.
Everyone complains about confusion and delay while doing their best to maximise both. People think Parliament's doing a bad job and Parliament thinks the people did a bad job. Both parties have collapsed in chaos and dare not face the electorate, who are themselves sick of voting and despise those they must vote for.
"Oh what a tangled web we weave /When first we practice to deceive."
Mr. Rees-Mogg is showing himself to be just as ineffectual as Mrs. May:
Mrs. May has been stonewalled into accepting the Withdrawal Agreement by the EU (so we are told);
Mr. Rees-Mogg, it appears, is (effectively) being stonewalled into accepting the Agreement by Mrs. May;
therefore, by the transitive property of stonewalling, Mr. Rees-Mogg is also being stonewalled into accepting the Agreement by the EU.
Perhaps he should lead calls for a no confidence vote against himself.
Lynn Atkinson
Vital! Make them do this treachery in the light of day so that we know their names. I have now reached the point where I prefer and will vote for Corbyn who is a Brexiteer in preferance to weak turncoats. To be outwitted by Mrs May – what an indictment! Mr Rees Mogg May as well be brainless!
Exactly almost anything is better than May's appalling deal.
Agree totally!
Someone surely must DO something!
Are the Brexiteers sticking to the rules while remoaners run rings round them with under the table notes to Brussels and ancient political tools?
Tweeter_L
I wholeheartedly agree
Spot on. I smell the BS of surrender from Johnson/JRM etc as they spin that the agreement can be improved after signing. We know it won't be and we will be enmeshed by the EU in the negotiations for ever until we give up through fatigue.
If it could be improved why did they not agree to it at the outset? Precisely!
Worse – the Withdrawal Treaty, as it is known to M. Juncker, binds us permanently into being under the Joint committee which is half EU and half UK. We have no idea who will be on that Committee. We will get to elect none of the people. They will decide our future.
The UK side could just be a few remain Civil Servants.
The EU side might very well be led by Guy Verhofstadt and other people who have little understanding of our needs.
In no way could anyone call that Brexit.
Totally agree. And, to announce you are going to 'roll over' and vote for it is even more foolish, as Remainers then use that as PR for them and to sap morale. Just look at the Daily Mail Front Page today. Jacob Reece- Mogg is clever and brave, but not very street-wise. He has folded with no consessions from May (or if there have been they are not public).
Stay strong; as someone else said the Leavers' backstop is the public !!
Agreed. May resigning is neither here nor there – an irrelevance and a distraction.
The Withdrawal/Surrender Agreement must not be signed. Once it is rejected, no damage has been done and we fight on to deliver a genuine Brexit.
A general election would be useful to replace those who are blocking Brexit.
Brian Tomkinson
It's hard to imagine why anyone would want to vote for an international treaty that they thought was unacceptable just because Mrs May would stand down after the dastardly deed was done.
Nicely put Stephen
I agree, SP. Rees-Mogg has gone down a dangerous route (as reported in the Press, and his own article in the Mail). For many, R-M was one of the few who stood out as principled, honest, and having integrity, but not any more. His u turn demonstrates duplicity in my mind and cowardice, and political games of the worst kind. He will now be regarded as " just as bad as the rest of them" who are intent on destroying Brexit.
This is not the first time he has made a real error of judgement, the first being how the challenge to May's leadership was effected. It seemed poorly organised and executed and not robust enough to offset political shenanigans from those opposing Brexit. Naivety and timidity come to mind.
Timaction
We all know. It's a long time since we got our news from the msm as we know its almost Government approved BS. The legacies are a thing of the past they just don't know it yet. May has killed the Conservatives for a generation with her lying, scheming plans to keep us in under her BRINO plans. She thinks we're as stupid as her! Who does she think has to make a living in the real world?
Tad Davison
Totally agree! Am watching today's House of Commons debate and it is difficult to imagine a bunch of people so far removed from those outside. They just don't get it and most are lying their heads off. They are living in their own bubble. They are talking about minutia and weedling their way into a position that keeps the UK in the EU. Utter disgrace!
Gordon Nottingham
You can add my name to those who want to LEAVE NOW, with or without a deal.
Just get on with it and dump HS2 as well.
matthu
If we leave with the PM's withdrawal agreement, almost nothing noticeable will change.
Payments to EU will continue – £39 billion will be only the start.
Tariffs will continue.
Harmonisation will continue.
HS2 will continue – perhaps with greater urgency.
The public are right. MPs are seeking to frustrate Brexit or to flog us Brexit in name only. If, like me, they have watched some of the debates, they will not have been impressed by many of the contributions or their supervision by the Speaker. The primary responsibility for the current shambles rests with the PM. She is unfit for office. She is closely followed by the Leader of the Opposition. The next election will offer the opportunity to cull the dross on offer. The best outcome now is to leave without the WA, operate on WTO terms and to offer the EU a FTA. May is blocking this outcome keeping the UK in a cul de sac of her and the EUs making.
I agree however now that a Letwin and Cooper are joint prime ministers we have lost the option of leaving without a deal on WTO rules . JRM has a good explanation in the Mail as to why he will reluctantly vote for her deal as a bad deal is better than no Brexit at all. Me……. I have simply lost faith in Parliament. You can add mr Bercow to the list of people unfit for office. But he will get his peerage as sure as eggs are eggs. Just like Mr Martin. The first speaker sacked in 300 years. Who else would get such a reward for being sacked
Absolutely correct but how many MPs have the intellectual capacity to recognise this route to sovereignty.
Agreed. We know.
I have trodden in nasty things that are better than what we have in parliament right now. The problem is, we do not have a legal immediate remedy to get rid of them. But we do have a legitimate grievance. Our rights are being usurped by bad people who draw their salaries under false pretences.
/IKH
Execellent post.
I agree that Mrs May is a very poor negotiator through out. However, I disagree with Jacob Rees-Mogg that there is any significant chance of 'No Brexit. Since Mrs May agreed not to lead the Tory Party into the next election her primary interest has been in her legacy. And she wants to lead the Country out of the EU. A long delay or withdrawing Article 50 is not what she wants to be remembered for.
She said in Parliament the other day she would not allow a 'No Deal' Brexit by default without a vote. In this I think she is being disingenuous. She will delay MV3 until the week of the 12th April, and that will be the final chance for MPs to vote for her deal and not a 'No Deal' Brexit. If she looses that vote she will not ask the EU for an extension. I think you need to do what ever you can to persuade your fellow Brexiteers to hold fast and not cave in to the pressure to vote for her deal or there will be no Brexit. I very much think it is a bluff.
Oh I think Mrs may's legacy is secure at this point. The most incompetent and duplicitous PM of modern times.
Roy,
Given what she has got away with before, I regret to say I think you're right. She will do anything to save her job because this is one robot that has the EU working it by remote control. Where any decent individual would have resigned any number of times as a matter of honour, this one is worse than Captain James T. Kirk's arch enemies – a cling-on.
Julie Dyson
I have to agree that, despite the utter embarrassment and sad excuse for a parliament we have in the HoC, a WTO Brexit ('No Deal' is really a misnomer in so many ways) is becoming increasingly more likely, and almost by default — which it should as it is, after all, the law of the land.
Provided that the ERG, DUP and other strong patriots hold firm so that the truly awful surrender-document-in-all-but-name WA fails to pass for a third time, then I think when push comes to shove Teresa May could actually, finally, do the right thing by this country and just get us out.
For one thing she must be feeling deeply, deeply humiliated by the current whole 'indicative votes' meaningless farce (there won't be a real consensus for any option that most of the country would welcome, or even be willing to grudgingly accept) so I really can't see her taking this as any sort of binding instruction from the house and actually act on it, regardless. It's all just another pointless waste of yet more time.
For another, she is well aware that she has promised over and over that the referendum will be honoured and Brexit will happen. Having failed to get her terrible deal through for a third time (we can but hope and pray), and with no other workable or widely acceptable solution in place or able to be negotiated within a reasonable timeframe, the only viable answer is a WTO Brexit.
It's the only thing that would then save her reputation, her party, and her country.
Oxiana321
For someone who has so resolutely promoted the WA whilst at the same time taking 'no deal' off the table, I am not convinced she would be at all happy to lead the UK out on the basis of a 'no deal'. The last 2 1/2 years have shown quite clearly that those hell-bent on implementing the WA are just as committed to keeping the UK in the EU as those in the Remain camp. The whole process has been managed to ensure a final pincer movement that gives a false choice, remain or a leave on such punitive terms that the end result is that we remain. Perhaps the only difference between the two is that the WA ensures the EU gets to show other recalcitrant countries whats in store for them should they show the same cheek as the UK.
She has not taken 'No Deal' off the table. What she said was 'Unless this House agrees to it no deal can not happen …" A vote against MV3 would be a vote for 'No Deal'.
What Tiler
Think? Think?! It couldn't be anymore blatantly obvious, you'd have to be in a coma not to have noticed.
Peter Wood
Surely you forget the congratulate Mrs May on her Brexit plan; its a great success, since her plan was to delay and frustrate leaving the EU from the start.
The shame and damage to our reputation she has brought will take years to repair; we are the laughing stock of Europe.
For a Europhile like May her handling of this important constitutional and democratic event has been exceptional. She's outwitted the ERG and the DUP on all fronts and has still managed to remain PM in the process
Moreover, the Remain vested interest is now in full control of Parliamentary business with Bercow, Cooper, Letwin, Benn and Grieve all working together to control events in the Commons
Brexit MPs have been exposed as evidenced with Mogg's capitulation on the WA
Remain lost the referendum and still they come away in full control of events while Brexit is left scrambling in their wake
To achieve Brexit powerful Brexit players (ERG, DUP) should have understood the revolutionary nature of what was required and what was required was a total realignment of party politics. The ERG simply refuse to countenance that. It isn't even part of their agenda
The voter did their part and delivered a Brexit victory. Politicians hijacked its delivery and thwarted the natural process of democracy.
In effect, Brexit MPs have placed the interests of their party and themselves above the interests of United Kingdom. I understand why they would do that but it still doesn't make it less damning
PW & D, difficult not to agree with you. The "Maoist" purity of the old guard is now clearly on the wane, and the younger ones (JR-M at 52) see better than some old farts on which side their bread is likely to be buttered in the future.
robert lewy
Dominic,
Your analysis is flawed.
This is a conclusion is too simplistic.
The truth is that within the Conservative party Brexiteers are in a minority.
Therefore, it follows that making a stand without sufficient support from elsewhere amongst the Opposition will simply put Corbyn in office. Numbers count. With the Conservative party being 2 to 1 in favour of Remain and a larger majority in Parliament May's deal would have been waived through.
The realignment in politics you refer to will not be successful in reflecting the views of the electorate without a cull of most of the current crop of MPs and a General Election which is held specifically to allow all views on how the country should proceed on the issue of Brexit to be represented.
Furthermore, remember even if Parliament fumbles its way to a common view on Brexit e.g Norway, the EU will simply reply that this could be reflected in adding to the Political Declaration but the WA cannot be altered.
This would then leave the final negotiation of a Trade Deal fully in the hands of the Remainers with ERG having no influence on the outcome.
No, there needs to be a non-confidence vote in the Government and the formation of a new Real Brexit Party whether it is Nigel Farage's party or a new one. There has to be a home for those who believe in a proper Brexit which requires the UK to leave BEFORE a Deal rather than WITHOUT a Deal . It is essential that there is only one such party otherwise fragmentation will will risk division and sully the message,
I have a Remainer friend who didn't get his act together in time to vote in 2016. Typical sloppiness of many Johnny come lately Remainers, I'm afraid. They didn't realise the significance of what was happening.
It doesn't matter, however.
He's still won the referendum, in effect. His no vote seems to count more than my real one and he doesn't see the injustice of it, indeed he is affronted that I voted that way at all.
We're going out for a beer soon. I just hope the rest of the country can get along this way.
As for voting – quite likely never again.
Leave it to the students and let them lower the age to 16. I get the message. I am too stupid to vote and these people are a lot cleverer and more knowledgeable than me.
…………it also means the demise of the legacies as who would ever vote again unless there was an independent or patriotic person on the ballot paper?
"….should have understood the revolutionary nature of what was required…"
I recall saying here at the start of this process that the Brexiteers,instead of loftily quoting Shakespeare and Churchill(himself a great appeaser re America) should have been reading Lenin.
I'll also quote for the nth time French Jacobin,St Juste,'s famous "They who do revolutions by halves do but dig their own graves."
Agree, Dominic. You write "the voters did their part….the politicians hijacked….". The irony of the title of Boris Johnson's article in the Telegraph about the process of Brexit being "hijacked by spineless pirates" – it is the spineless nature of those Brexiter MPs who have apparently given in to May and are going to vote for her WA that is far more striking. The voters will not forget, Boris. It is disingenuous of them to argue that No Deal is off the table. The situation is far more complex than that, and a Leave on WTO terms is still possible. What R-M and Johnson seem more interested in doing is trying to save the Tory Party and keep it in power. Good luck with that if you vote for the WA.
I largely agree. But May was only ever able to outwit people because they made the fatal mistake of taking her at her word. She's an underhanded bare-faced liar, and that is an inescapable fact – I cite her Lancaster House speech. Only a sociopath can look the nation coldly and expressionless in the face, then stab them in the front whilst not even blinking!
I don't think this was Theresa May's plan, it was that of others.
By the way I see Frau Merkle last week was saying she would work until the very last minute to see that the UK left the EU in an orderly fashion !!!
I also note the weekend coup, announced with such a very loud fanfare by all the Sunday papers, has fizzled out !! Now, what could that possibly be about? It was certainly a warning, but from whom to whom is a more interesting question??
Geoff in Boston
I trust you will convey to Mr Rees Mogg that he should never again purport to speak on behalf of patriotic Britons? His support for Mrs May's surrender condemns him to infinite infamy
His father will be spinning! He's gutless! We are hours away from WTO Brexit and the so-called Brexiteers are going to vote for worse-than-Remain. The public is incandescent! The Tory Party is HISTORY!
I would agree, LA. R-M's pathetic article in the Press this morning justifying his u turn seems almost a cry for help – he seems to be admitting that he does not have the wherewithal to stand up for Brexit when he is really up against it.
Lack of political nous and judgement, plus lack of courage are not qualities that I would want in a prospective leader of the Cons Party, so yes, we have found this out at a dreadful moment, but better to find out these qualities before these politicians try to assume positions of power. If R-M and BJ go ahead and vote for May's WA, they will forfeit the support and loyalty of a very large number of voters, not only for themselves but for the Party also.
I tend to agree. But I think he put the proviso in that he would support if the DUP did. It seems they have rather more backbone.
GiB, you are correct. Backing down to agree something, that notwithstanding Dr Redwood's fundamental criticisms and the negotiating position it subjects the UK to, has the possibility of a permanent lock-in is beyond irresponsible. MPs need to understand how long forever is.
The best options remain no deal (then negotiate free trade), delay and maintain having a voice and representation, revoke A50 and win the war later. I suspect Rees Mogg and the ERG don't wish to see the Conservatives decimated in a European election, hence the surrender.
Reply Mr Rees Mogg has said he will vote against the Agreement again if the DUP vote against. The ERG is not recommending a vote for the Agreement and each member makes up their own mind anyway.
My husband said the same, This deal is a betrayal , the only true exit is WTO . 200 other nations in the world deal WTO they are not dying or destitute , we are allowing tin pot EU nations decide our future with a population of less than 10 million in some cases who obviously want us to remain in the EU to support them . The other aspect is the people who are significant in our country who are funded by the EU, the TUC, CBI , Broadcasters , Land owners of estates are all in the pocket of the EU. WTO is the only true Brexit , then talk a deal on mutual free ground with the EU , not one with a ball and chain around your ankles.
No nation trades purely on WTO terms. And, contrary to your claim, parts of the world are destitute and dying.
ALL of the EU countries, as well as the EEA countries, Switzerland and surrounding microstates are among the richest third of countries in the world.
Many area significantly richer per capita than we are.
For you to dismiss them as 'tin pot' is beyond deluded. It is 2019 not 1819.
No because as time goes on nations come to agreements to simplify rules and regulations appertaining to trade between each other.
An example is the EU and USA agreement on wordings on wine bottle labels.
These are mainly very minor items.
Your statement that no nation trades only on pure WTO rules is a red herring.
Over 95% of world trade carries on using WTO rules.
If a teacher had a pupil who consistently failed to heed their words and refused to learn, that pupil would soon be relegated to the remedial stream. No matter how much or how often people prove you wrong, you still talk trash. That is very curious because there is so much evidence out there that shows just what a nonsense the European Union is, and how much lying the remain camp does. I don't think I've ever come across anyone who is in total denial before.
Most of the richest European nations aren't in the EU, which tells you all you need to know.
WTO waffle from someone who wouldn't know how to trade if their life depended on it can be ignored
Oh and der yoof who you think are going to save the EU are all waking up to the fact that the EU has just outlawed the internet , dont think thats going to go down too well with the under 30 market
Geoff Travers
Your total lack of self-awareness is astonishing. Don't you realise that YOU are the sort of MP now reviled by the voting public? Decent MPs who respect the people's will are backing Mrs May and we would be out on 29 March if all MPs had shown such honesty.
Thinking that the WA will achieve an exit from the EU shows your total lack of awareness about the 'deal'. The EU would have no incentive for further talks. Everything they need is already handed over to them by people you praise for backing an incompetent PM. Staggering naievety!
Cambridge Jon
We need to accept Mrs May's deal, then replace her with a proper Brexiteer (eg Liam Fox, Nadine Dorries or Peter Bone). Then the new PM can insist the Irish backstop is dropped and that the EU must pay us to trade with them. Because they sell a lot more to us than we do to them, they are sure to agree (and if they don't, the German carmakers will certainly pressure tham to agree quickly). Simples!
That would work for a no deal (WTO) exit but the WA really is the work of Satan, after we had pee'd him off! Just read it and see for yourself. Even some German commentators said that it's something that a nation defeated in war would baulk at accepting.
Absolute nonsense. The WA keeps us in the EU and tied to it. Stop peddling the myth that this surrender document equals Brexit. You know full well that this document does nothing of the sort
52% demand full sovereignty and total independence not some halfway house
GT, I don't think your opinion agrees with the polls (not the people with whom I speak).
Don't be silly Geoff, you have only to look at any comments section or Twitter accounts of relevant people to see the public calling shame on all those rolling over and saying they will vote for Mrs May's treaty.
The only ones calling out the brave MPs who will not capitulate are those who have already decided to do so – which is 'confirmation bias'.
Those who do not vote for May's deal and support a real Brexit will keep their activists and their voters !! And will live to fight another day. That is good, it is those strong, brave, honest people we need in politics. (That being said, I do understand to some degree why some have taken the decision to vote for the Withdrawal Treaty; I personally think they are misguided and have done it in the wrong way that has caused more harm.)
GT, have you read the Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration, or the legal assessments available on them? There is so much in the public domain but it is your responsibility to inform yourself before writing such a condemnation of Sir John. I believe you are the one lacking political awareness.
Fishknife
Wars are fought for Freedom, mainly Religious, occasionally against slavery.
A free people have the right and ability to choose their own path, it may be the wrong path but it is theirs.
The EU a is technocratic supra-national governance, "right" being defined by what is in its self-interest – with the peoples of Europe rising up against its lack of democracy.
"If" Sir John is reviled by "the voting public" and I think you may be confused by the b/m illions of Euros being spent to thwart Brexit, I'm sure he will be comforted by knowing which direction is "up".
Is that 'out in name only' on May's terms? Rather than reviled, Sir John is celebrated. His is the example to follow. Give us a principled patriotic politician any day rather thank a limp lettuce just like all the rest!
In the film, The Midnight Cowboy, I read a sign saying "Eat American steak, a million coyoties cannot be wrong."
The point is, when something is that good, one would be unwise not to go against it. Public opinion is very strong. Whilst MP's dither the economy is beginningto suffer. I know of many firms where orders are being put on hold due to parliament and government uncertainty. The nation needs to know where we are heading.
Parliament needs to re-read Art.50. It clearly gives us two choices. One is the Withdrawal Agreement. The other is that we Leave after 2 years. Parliament has rejected the first, it now must accept, by default, the second.
There is no alternative.
We need a coup and somebody to declare UDI.
Bob Dixon
The Withdrawl Agreement is the worst solution of all.Rumour has it that several of The ERG are going to back it.
The best is to leave this Friday evening without a deal.
Indeed. May's straight jacket is appalling.
If Mrs May's noxious WA is voted through, Remainers will immediately campaign to rejoin the EU. They will argue that full membership would give us a vote instead of having to put up with taxation and diktats without representation.
Yes it is but I do not see the HoC coming to such a conclusion. They will in all probability produce a bucket of worms unfit for ground bait. The critical thing is what happens next.
May has a damascene moment and we leave minus a deal or with her toxic alternative. At this point she must go taking her Cabinet with her. We then need a leave PM and leave cabinet supplemented ,not by an inadequate civil service, but by trade experts who have spent their lives at the coal face. Only they will know what is required to start the engine of international commerce.
I'd like a Brexiteer Prime Minister, as of the day Cameron resigned.
Not sure who the hell on the Brexit side would want the job now that May have made such a balls of everything. If we could guarantee the scumbags wouldn't go plotting against him, I'd have Owen Paterson for PM, Jacob Rees-Mogg for Foreign Secretary, Sir John Redwood for Chancellor, and a really tough no-nonsense Brexiteer as Home Secretary. Maybe Colonel Bob Stewart for Defence Minister, and then keep remainers as far away from the levers of power as possible.
As I understand it we are still committed, by law, to leaving at 11 p.m on Friday. How is a statutory instrument to be issued by ministers if Parliament has taken over ? We must be on schedule for a No-deal Exit, surely, or have I missed something ?
Think they are voting on SI today, will presumably clear HoL tomorrow. Public anger is starting to really mount. Indicative voting will be made public so MPs will no be able to hide from their employers..
Yesssss!!!!! Name and shame these duplicitous ******s so we can make sure the voters in their local constituencies know who the are and what they are!
Onlyjoken
I strongly recommend to everyone the important letter on the legalities sent by Bill Cash and three others to the Prime Minister yesterday. Ignored by the press I think, but can be seen by anyone on the Isaby twitter feed.
I alluded to this in earlier posts. Sir Bill Cash made reference to it again today, and it looks for all the world like deliberate prevarication on the part of the Prime Minister, but surely she couldn't be so deliberately evasive?
Not much she couldn't!
Maybe this is the 'cliff-edge' that the Remain camp keep banging on about? However, if they really are in control of Parliament business, their campaign is heading for a mighty fall.
Kate Hoey extracted from the Speaker something relevant to your question:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1105490/brexit-news-latest-deal-vote-commons-speaker-john-bercow-kate-hoey-mp-live-law-uk-eu
"Brexit SHOCK: Kate Hoey forces Bercow to admit EU law still OVERRULES British Parliament
SPEAKER John Bercow admitted European law "trumps" UK national law, in response to Brexiteer MP Kate Hoey's question on whether EU law can overrule Parliament.
The comment came in response to Kate Hoey asking if EU law has the power to overrule Parliament. During a point of order, the Brexiteer MP questioned: "The position would be constitutionally, if this statutory instrument comes before us, changing the date which we have already in our legislation was not accepted by this House – does EU law overrule our Parliament?" The Speaker replied: "As a matter of general practice it is well established that EU law trumps UK national law, I am not saying anything controversial there…..
Regarding Ms Hoey's question, a Speaker's Office spokesman clarified to Express.co.uk: "The Speaker's response was correct. Because the UK would still be a member state, it would still be bound by EU law, but there would be significant domestic legal complications".
Details of the process are here:
https://beta.parliament.uk/work-packages/rBLQMjMc
It is to be debated in the Lords today, right at the end of business here:
https://lordsbusiness.parliament.uk/
along with this Labour amendment:
https://lordsbusiness.parliament.uk/ItemOfBusiness?itemOfBusinessId=62421&sectionId=38&businessPaperDate=2019-03-27
"Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town to move, as an amendment to the above motion, at the end insert "but this House, whilst recognising the necessity of the Regulations, regrets the manner in which Her Majesty's Government have conducted withdrawal negotiations with the European Union which has resulted in widespread uncertainty as to when the United Kingdom will leave and about the status of European Union citizens, as well as undermining business confidence; and calls on Her Majesty's Government to pursue without hesitation any course of action in relation to those negotiations which is approved by a resolution of the House of Commons."
The SI doesn't matter. Whether they pass it or not, EU law supersedes UK law and the date is 12 April, not March 29th. So says Professor Catherine Barnard, professor of EU law, Cambridge University Faculty of law. EU law has been this way for years, its just been hidden from the public.
I once read that the EU passed 120,00 laws on the UK but due to time constraints only about a third of it has been ratified by UK Parliament, but because of this situation, it all sits on our statute books anyway. Parliament is not much more than a County Council and needs a severe cull if we are to continue like this.
I recommend watching Peter Hitchens' documentary on the EU on YouTube. EU laws and edicts start off with a just trickle and the odd book on the odd shelf. It is now a deluge occupying an entire library, and a new library is planned to accommodate what is anticipated should we stay in!
This is a spiders web of a restrictive legal network. We are not far away from being fatally bitten. Who in Westminster will have the courage to hack it away and free the UK from it?
All of us who care about this country are fighting the strong instinct to just move on, to stop whining , to accept "reality" We cannot and must not .Despite and two Parties united against us, little hope and continual misinformation we stay in the game.
My father an ex Conservative Council Leader at 84 , post heart bypass and cancer ,dragged himself to London to join his first protest . That is the spirit of resistance Brexit has unlocked!
U Gov 19.3- Remain on 46%- Brexit at 41%
No Deal is supported by 28% and ( in the same Jan Poll) Remain 45% .
19% strongly in favour of no deal.
75% can live with Brexit but within the customs union and single market
Poll to revoke approaching 6,000,000
Yes Consider this carefully
Poll to Leave approaching 17.5 million. Consider that.
The revoke poll organisers are to be congratulated on getting Jacob Rees Mogg to sign it more than 6000 times which was the latest count.
Idi Amin signed it 700 times!
The Waitrose walk said to be a million actually about 200,00 again – Remainers not good at maths.
Newmania do you ever check your grammar before you press the "post comment" box? I think you would be better off complaining about the quality of British schools rather than BREXIT.
You father is ill and old. But I have known many 'conservatives' who are members of the European Movement.
The polls are moving in the other direction fast. Wait until these kids realise they have kissed goodbye to memes thanks to the E.U. – our lawmakers.
This is not playtime. We are deciding whether we live as we see fit or take orders from people who don't care whether we live or die – exaggeration? – look at Greece!
We are deciding whether we live as Nigel Farrage sees fit and there is no"we" to which you and I belong any more
People like you with your self satisfied "constitutional" quibbles should have confront the families who no longer have a bread winner, the child whose future has been taken away, due to under funded schools , the patient whose hopes of recovery are no longer fudned
See how that conversant goes and then talk to me about play time . Grow up , stop posturing like some dim witted adolescent and think of others
Newmania: "Poll to revoke approaching 6,000,000 "
The 6 million is a meaningless figure unless it reaches 16 million, even then, it would reflect only those who voted remain and lost the vote in the '16 Referendum.
Ginty
It would be very suspicious if it reached 16m. I hear that Adolf Hitler has signed it at least once.
I know for a fact that Donald Duck signed it, because I was there to witness it.
JOHN FINN
A recent Briefings for Brexit article quoted the Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman who estimated that, for the US, even a 70% fall in trade would only cut GDP by 2%. Using the same.
Before knowing any economics I instinctively knew this was the case. For a major net importer it's obvious that any impediments to international trade would create opportunities for domestic producers. If we left the EU then trade would continue as normal. However, if EU imports became less competitive UK businesses would seize their chance to grab more of the home market.
The increasing trade deficit with the EU acts as a drag on UK economic growth. The public need to understand this basic message.
How many of the "public" understand the single market. How many know that since the introduction of the single market GDP per capita growth has fallen off a cliff. How many know that if per capita growth in the 25 years before the SM had remained at the same rate as in the 25 years since each person in the UK would have been over £4000 better off in 2017 alone – or to use Treasury style propaganda membership the Single Market is costing each one of us over £4000 per year.
For almost 3 years the whole of the UK media has been running a non-stop Remain campaign which may have resulted in a slight shift in opinion. If there is a shift it is a 'soft' one and given the opportunity and resources of the Remainers I believe Leave would have a very good chance of winning for a second time.
John Finn, while agreeing with the main thrust of your comment I feel that it's many of our politicians who need to understand the basic economic message.
I need to look it up, but I recall a survey of MPs found that 90% of all respondents clearly did not know how the economy works, yet they vote on things that drastically affect each and every one of us. Whilst I understand that MPs cannot realistically be expected to know everything, they have a huge reservoir of expertise upon which to draw.
However, and here's the catch, the civil service whose job it is to help and advise, is absolutely riven by remainers who want to keep the UK in the EU by any means. I seriously doubt their even-handedness and their integrity. Their impartial advice cannot be depended upon.
That's yet another stable that needs to be shovelled out before any meaningful progress can be made!
Chris Dark
You're another one who refuses to accept the raw fact that the Revoke petition was filled with multiple signatures and overseas entries. It is a fraud, purporting to be the voice of six million remainers.
17.4 million voted to leave in a free and democratic vote. That is the only one that counts. Where was this 'resistance' in June 2016? Crosses on ballot papers trump clicks on a web page, I'm afraid! They obviously weren't too concerned or complacent so didn't vote. That's your problem, not mine.
ukretired123
The Referendum has to be honoured regardless of the latest gimmicks to remain.
Yes lots of folks don't like it but many more don't like the EU.
Theresa Mays 's tactics have encouraged many remainers to follow her behaviour, thinking democracy can be reversed under the idea anything is possible – you can achieve your ambition in this country (on her being elected PM outside No 10 DS).
Listening to a petition and a march whilst ignoring a vote is the 'mob rule' you criticise us for.
Dear Newmania, may I remind you that the final poll of polls before the 2016 referendum showed 52 per cent remain to 48 per cent leave, exactly the same as the initial poll of polls in October 2015. In between the poll of polls showed 55/45 for remain for long periods and leave led only for about two weeks. No doubt you will think this proves that the result was some kind of freak. I would suggest that, although pollsters adjusted their samples, they were not able to come to terms with the non-traditional patchwork of opinions on this matter.
Of course the public thinks Parliament is out to delay Brexit. This is what the ranting Tory leavers repeat ad naseum when they go on radio and TV. And we know some of them all but sleep in TV studios.
But the simple fact is that Brexit is all but dead. It is Mrs May's deal or nothing. Every option is clearly less good than remaining – as even most Brexiteers now realise. Though most still do not have the guts to admit it. Even if Brexit happens – and for the first time it is now an if – it will be undone before long anyway.
The UK now clearly backs remain. We can see this by the thronged streets in London and the millions who have signed the petition. We see in the passionate debate and huge affection our young show to the EU. Blue and yellow flags of joy are everywhere. The cross of St George turned into a symbol of nationalist shame.
Meanwhile Farage can garner the support of a few ranting red faced men from Grimsby and is joined on his walk by a pair of angry pensioners and a dog.
The next election is likely to expel many of the worthless MPs.
bigneil
Middle of the night radio news said even JRM will be voting pro TM's deal.
Spin. That's not what I heard him say.
Oggy
A lot of remain MP's don't give a hoot about public opinion.
A lot of remain MP's have constituencies that voted heavily to leave.
Take the Remain MP and architect of many of the anti Brexit amendments, the MP for Castleford and Pontefract, her constituency voted 70% to leave.
Do remain MP's think this is representative democracy ?
Everybody just needs to calm down and remember the causes of the referendum victory have not gone away. There are plenty of signs that the American economy is slowing down, if not heading towards a recession. Meanwhile the banks are more dangerous than they were in 2007. Let them have there 'victory', the global economy will soon strip them of it. I for one will have a big smile on my face when Saturday's marchers suddenly find out they are not so financially secure as they thought they were.
The pound seems remarkably undisturbed by MPs' apparent desire to ignore a decisive democratic vote in order to play pin the tail on the donkey with the UK's political and economic future.
The BBC announced yesterday that in a new referendum remain would be at 55%. Presumably there was some poll behind this but no wonder they chose that one! The figures you cite show the public are not particularly fazed by the relentless hysteria of project fear, which is heartening.
I continue to think an extension until Dec 20 and a complete re-set is the best way forward. I see Dan Hannan,always a sensible voice, agrees.
Duyfken
Rees Mogg, Fabricant et al have made a bad choice. Essential to stand by one's principles rather than support the supposed "least bad" available alternative. They forget that if May's deal were rejected and in consequence the Art 50 letter were withdrawn or another referendum shoved on us, the public outcry would be extreme and probably to an extent which no government could survive.
When I was watching the debate the other day Sir Bill Cash said the extension to article 50 was illegal if so why are we not still leaving this Friday there doesn't seem to be much coverage on that subject WHY
Reply Because people expect Parliament to change the law today
The worst problem for business is uncertainty. That's it…
WTO is fine, May's deal is absolutely the worst option, in my opinion worse than staying
It does not matter what solutions the indicative voting throws up today, whatever approach we go for will still first have to be preceded by ratification of the WA- there is only only one way out without ratification and that is to crash out. Then somewhere down the road we're going to want a FTA with them and even then the WA matter is going to have to be settled first.
All of these percentages and statistics set out in today's diary are very nice to look at, but like our host not from the real world – because what ordinary people think or say or want does not count in this anymore, the political class are not going to make that mistake again. And the EU sees us only as a huge market to sell into and to that end things will have to be managed very carefully – the vassal state- all our own doing.
I would like to leave on Friday without a deal. Failing that I'd like to leave on 12th April without a deal. However, I am becoming increasingly fearful that if Mrs May's dreadful deal doesn't pass, we might not get Brexit at all. I also wonder if, with her deal passed and a real Brexiteer as PM, it might be possible to undo some of the damage her deal does. That has been Michael Gove's view all along. I know many will see this as a lack of fortitude but with Parliament determined to block no deal I do believe any form of Brexit is now in jeopardy. Many will say the the WA isn't really Brexit. That's true but it's nearer to it than a revocation of article 50 which I now see as a real risk. Perhaps I am just a victim of the latest project fear tactics! I do not envy Sir John his duty to wrestle with this.
Interesting interview with the foreign minister of Iceland yesterday. They are in EEA / EFTA. He said: 1) EFTA allows free trade with third countries unlike the CU & was a UK invention in 1959; 2) they get some say in formulation of EEA rules which do apply . About 10% of the EU Aquis applies to EFTA countries; 3) he said why on earth would the uk` or any efta member want to be in the CU – destroys the point of it. 4) EFTA with the uk in would Change the balance of influence.
Ken Clarke says the referendum wasn't remotely about the CU. Where was he, it arose on Avery debate I heard (or had). Only outside the CU can we have an independent trade policy. If we stay in the CU (as Mays deal ensures) we may as well stay in the EU. Whatever other options MPs vote for they must vote to get out of the CU.
Dave Andrews
What is the "government" playing at? They have lost control, yet they carry on as spectators to what is going on.
Would it not be just as well to put Brexit on pause and hold a general election? Even if we did leave on Friday (which would please me no end), there is no one in government competent to make use of the repatriated powers. No doubt the Conservative Party would get hammered, but isn't it just as well to do this now and rebuild rather than wait for another 3 years of damage?
When does it get better for this government?
Good. This suggests that forcing a General election would produce a happy outcome should the need arise. Where is that Brexiteers' Manifesto?
First we had the joy of winning the referendum.
Then we had the promises.
Then the teasing with the likes of Miller..the "legal challenges".
Despair..joy…relief…despair…over and over.
Oooooo…A50 triggered
Great sigh of relief. We were on our way.
Then the backstop.
The loathsome TREATY!
Now we see that our "leaders"(and betters we were told) have no respect whatsoever for the laws when the law stands in their way.
We could not have been "played" more effectively by an expert fisherman although I have heard of similar happening on parish councils!
This is what comes of playing gentleman's cricket whilst the other side is playing Rugby. They're laughing at us for being mugs and that makes me very bitter! I think what we should do, even at this late stage, is counter their Rugby by playing tanks!
I don't know why I am bothering to write this. It is obvious now that parliament is a dictatorship and that the voice of the people is not worth s**t.
I look to Trump's America with envy.
Governments in other countries have been overthrown for less!
With respect sir, maybe not your voice but, at every election it does and it can be heard via the ballot box.
I went to Dieppe in the 90s.
There was a lovely market there where people brought their own home produce to sell.
A handful of beans…several cabbages…a newly killed chicken and some home made cheese.
Not here though …not at gold-plated-application-of -EU-law Central…oh no…not for us! All Health and Safety applied with rigour for us!!
Yet now…because it suits..we see rules and regs skated over,brushed aside,snuffed out forever. Parliamentary procedure overturned, secret letters to the EU yet we are subjected to an ever narrowing Overton Window!!
I thought that the watchword of May was FAIRNESS.
Cheshire Girl
The media (BBC and Ch. 4 news) keep stating that many Leavers have changed their minds, and there is now a majority for Remain. They said so only yesterday. I dont really believe them, as I think they would say that, as their Presenters are really keen for us to stay in the EU.
I just wish these news Presenters would stop pushing their own agenda!
I have lived through Labour governments that I have despised and looked forward to their eventual demise, but it has taken the Conservative party to make me ashamed of my country. A party that I have supported for most of my voting life and been a member of until Cameron. With a few honourable exceptions I look forward to this so called "conservative" party of traitors getting totally annihilated over their non handling of this issue. If the remoaners win the day they will deserve the Corbyn government that they will surely get. I would not vote Labour, but neither will I ever vote Tory again. I will certainly not vote for my MP Michael Gove a I could not pinch my nose hard enough to eliminate the smell of treachery, and will only vote at all if there is a candidate that I could trust to remove us from the shackles of the EU before it all falls apart which it surely will.
Nicky Roberts
As an ardent Brexiteer I too wanted us to hold out but having weighed up the options… if we go for a long delay it is inevitable that another vote will be demanded and a weary electorate will, a year down the line possibly buckle. There is something in what Mr Mogg says re International treaty and Europeans treaty, also with an energised leader we might find ways of clawing our way out of this agreement although I am aware there is a strong view to the contrary. I also wonder if the EU are not keen to see the back of us too, and maybe distracted by other concerns sense will prevail during further negotiations. I cannot see the Europhiles in the HOC ever giving up on their determination to defy the Brexit vote, they are fanatics who have more loyalty to the project than to their own country. This whole cdebacle has shocked me to the core. We do not live in a democracy, and despite sterling work by Sir John andthe ERG, we have had our vote ripped up and trashed.
Many MPs are in the process of writing their letter of resignation. They have considered themselves to be superior sources of thought that can ignore the will of the people. They will have been identified and will be castigated at the next GE. Local tory assocociation will no longer accept having central office selected candidates dumped on them. The swamp will be drained by the electorate.
You wouldn't really tease us would you?
It's one hell of a swamp!
A.Sedgwick
The "ordinary people" with our common sense have always felt whoever we vote for the government always gets in. The EU Referendum gave us hope but the light was Eurostar waiting to flatten us again. Most of us Leavers expected some sort of fudge but what is happening in Parliament really is just showing that we have a sham democracy.
How can a statutory instrument done in the Commons in a day overturn an ACT of PARLIAMENT going through the myriad of procedures in both Houses over weeks and months?
Very interesting statistics …. How much of this will be forgotten when the dust settles?
Many feel that Brexit has changed UK politics forever, in many ways – Let us hope so.
Without a total break from the EU though, our politicians will become more like the EU elite, more dictatorial …. and that will not stop the final surrender as the EU will in due time make Parliaments redundant, mere museum pieces – On present performance, that is not too far away.
They Work for Us?
Please stand firm against supporting the withdrawal agreement for therein lies continuing subservience to the EU and encourage the ERG to do so.. Please continue to publicise every instance of where the EU even now seeks to override UK law in the process of leaving the EU.
Please campaign to have Oliver Letwin and other "Conservative" MPs in the parliament takes charge process expelled from the Conservative party.
Quietly let it be known that that a motion of no confidence in the government will be tabled by the ERG if proper Brexit is betrayed, Seriously consider forming a new UK Conservative Party with others and splitting this rotten conservative in name party we have now. The time to be nice and polite has long passed.
On behalf of real Conservatives thank you for your efforts on our behalf. Stiffen JRM if you can.
You have my sympathy. I don't like being conned either.
It seems ERG types like JRM are now going to vote for May's deal. This despite them knowing full well it is a terrible deal. Remaining in the EU would be better. When pressed, JRM said that it was better than No Brexit because we could effectively ignore international law, since there are no courts to regulate it and it is effectively just politics. Therefore, he suggested, we don't need to be bound by the agreement. Proposing to break international law seems to me to be an absurd president to suggest setting.
The only real reason I can imagine JRM et al. are supporting May's deal is because optically it will look bad for the Conservative party if, come the next general election, we have not left the EU. This is a deprrssing thought. It would be nice to think there are politicians who put Country before party, such as Sir John. Obviously, the two are linked, because good outcomes for the country often result in re-election. Unfortunately I fear such MPs are in a minority.
I spoke to a taxi driver horrified by it.
TD "I didn't realise how dependent our region is dependant on EU subsidies."
Me "Ah. But those subsidies are our own money minus a tax."
TD "Yes. But now we are going to be paying huge amounts of money to the EU and getting NOTHING back at all."
Now I am horrified too. The people of this country face penury whilst not leaving the EU.
There are not enough police or military to cope with this.
Let's look on the bright side. Just think of the good our £39 billion will do inside the EU coffers, bailing out Italian banks and saving the Germans the trouble. The UK can find that kind of money down the back of the sofa.
Gordon Riby
The question for me now is did the PM act illegally (in light of the Gina Miller case) when she used the Royal Prerogative to extend Article 50? Bill Cash has raised an important point!
Yes that is undoubtedly the case..parliament is out to thwart brexit and to help it on it's way..j R-M is for the Lords and Boris for No.10. Another example of just how rotten the state is
Very different from the polls being bandied about on the BBC yesterday. They had some bloke now regarded as the poll guru (can't remember his name) saying that Remain would win now.
John Curtice, I believe.
Do we actually know what the balances of forces are within the House of Commons ?
Today's events are unlikely to reveal the answer as most Remainers seem to be intending to vote for every option that stops or softens Brexit. The only issues we might get an idea of are the number of MPS that hold democracy in such contempt that they are prepared to revoke Article 50 altogether and those that are only prepared to support leaving on WTO terms.
Let this Parliament take a day out to indulge in advisory expressions of its anti-Brexit views. It ceased to represent the people a while ago so it is not further time taken away from its duties.
villaking
Since you are using opinion polls to support what should happen next, is it not rather a grave omission to not take note of our leading pollster John Curtice's poll of polls which has shown a consistent small majority of Remain over Leave for more than 12 months now? Is that not the most important opinion poll of all?
Reply A similar lead to that shown in most polls before the referendum vote.
If Parliament is to decide whether we remain or leave and if leaving, what sort of leave, then we need a GE in order to ensure that the MPs are representative of their constituents as currently many MPs are not following their GE2017 manifesto promises.
BTW, if we have a second referendum it should be between "no deal" and the EU's WA with no remain option as remain has already been eliminated at the first ballot.
If our remain Parliament insists remain must be on the ballot paper then we will ned to have a proper discussion as to what "remain" means (ever closer union/Euro/EU army/unlimited immigration/further EU enlargement etc.) before the vote to ensure all remain voters know what they are voting for and not just for a blind remain option.
If we have a General Election, then it should be incumbent upon all leave parties to show these remainers up for what they are. It would be a chance to get rid of all the bankrupt and moribund remainers. It would also give us the chance to stop any remainer candidate from ever getting anywhere near office and thus carrying on the work of the EU by the back door.
Our remainer PM and Parliament are desperate to either revoke Article 50 or at the very least stop a meaningful Brexit.
It is just that they don't want to be blamed for it, in particular the governing party.
Hence our PM and her globalist pro-EU Conservative MP collaborators are either pushing for the EU's WA where they can falsely claim that they have delivered Brexit, when the WA is nothing of the sort, or, by allowing Parliament to take control ensure that Labour as well as themselves will be held responsible for the coup that Parliament is about to enact upon the people of the UK by thwarting the referendum result and ignoring their manifesto promises.
Any popularity of the WA with the public will be short lived when they realise how undemocratic and damaging it will be to UK interests as we are subjected to EU laws and taxes without representation or veto and with no lawful means of exit.
That's the only question to ask MPs.
1/ Do you intend to revoke A50
2/ or get behind the UK's decision to leave and get the best leave deal for the UK that we can with no pre-agreed WA?
Friday 29th March should have been a day of national celebration our 'independence day'.
The majority who voted and gave an instruction, not a suggestion nor consideration but an instruction expected its wishes to be implemented.
We the voters fully expect political manifesto(s) to be ignored that's due to MPs representation and the working nature of government and parliament.
However we the voters never expected our direct instruction to be ignored and so flippantly manipulated to cancel our vote.
The political contract between the parliament and the people has been breached.
Friday 29th March a sad day for democracy
Please stand firm and vote down Mrs May's appalling WA. Face them down. If they have the courage to stop Brexit then let them own it entirely but I do not believe they have that courage.
I'm waiting to hear that Sir William Cash and others have applied to the courts for an emergency hearing on whether the government acted lawfully when it agreed with the EU that the Article 50 period should be extended without first obtaining proper parliamentary authorisation for that action on the international plane, and whether the corresponding secondary legislation, the statutory instrument, will be invalid even if it is passed.
If money was needed to pay for legal action I am sure that it could be crowd funded.
Jen Amey
Both sides of the house fully supported article 50, but now have done everything to ensure Brexit doesn't happen. They will pay heavily for that come next election. They have damaged democracy. Mrs May's deal is not Brexit I for one am surprised that any mp who love their country would back this deal. Brexit was if anything a reflection of the elites mps not listening to the electorate. If you had any doubts about that, the electorate now has full evidence. Leaving the EU completely is the only come back from the utter contempt the mps have shown towards the electorate.
Jiminyjim
The lack of even basic understanding of facts and realities about the EU and what it represents, in the House of Commons this evening is really worrying, as is the arrogant tone of so many of those who claim to be representing their constituents. I could have chosen any number of people at random on any street corner in any town who would have had more to contribute. We need to bring down this miserable, self-centred and arrogant parliament.
Zerren Yeoville
"Amongst 18-24 year olds 36% now wish to leave with 43% wanting to stay. The rest are don't knows."
How, after all this time and all the verbiage expended on the topic from all quarters of the debate, can anyone realistically be a 'don't know' any more?
My hunch is that a great many of those who profess to be 'don't knows' are closet Leave supporters who do not wish to admit to the fact in public due to the intense cultural vendetta against Leave supporters. Remainers suffer no such disadvantage; like vegans, they are only too happy to virtue-signal to anyone within hearing – and that is why I would suggest that very few 'don't knows' could actually be claimed for Remain.