Parliamentary Scrutiny of Leaving the EU

Debate between Lord Beamish and William Cash

Wednesday 12th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[Sir William Cash (Stone) (Con)]

I must say, in response to the right hon. Member for Doncaster North (Edward Miliband), that there are of course those who do not and never will accept the outcome of the referendum and who will use almost any means at their disposal to try to overturn it or mitigate the result, while constantly and disingenuously stating their respect for it. That is abundantly clear.

This historic vote was an emphatic vote to leave the European Union. That was what was on the ballot paper. It was clear, and it follows from the fact that we are going to leave the European Union that Brexit does not just mean Brexit; it means the repeal of the European Communities Act 1972, which incorporates and absorbs all the laws and all the judgments of the European Court and all the matters that have come into this House and been imposed upon us by the 1972 Act.

There has been some talk about the Conservative manifesto. I have it here, and I mention it because it is relevant not only to some remarks off by some of my colleagues but to the future conduct of this matter in relation to the House of Lords. Our manifesto states:

“For too long, your voice has been ignored on Europe.”

That was stated in 2015 and put to the British people. It further stated that the Conservative party would

“give you a say over whether we should stay in or leave the EU, with an in-out referendum by the end of 2017”.

It then qualifies that—the precise date of the referendum was not known in 2015—by making some perfectly reasonable comments. It commits in the meantime or in parenthesis, as it were—it does not say that, but that is what it implies—to

“keeping the pound and staying out of the Eurozone”,

which is fair enough, and to

“reform the workings of the EU”.

So long as we are in the EU, we obviously want to reform those workings, because it is

“too big, too bossy and too bureaucratic”.

It goes on to state that the party will

“reclaim power from Brussels on your behalf and safeguard British interests in the Single Market”—

and I should hope that we would during that interim period, and

“back businesses to create jobs in Britain by completing ambitious trade deals and reducing red tape.”

That is what the manifesto said, and it provided the basis on which not only the general election but the referendum took place. The words in the question were quite clear:

“Do you want to ‘remain’ in or ‘leave’ the European Union?”

[Mr Kevan Jones]

I do not disagree with that, but the hon. Gentleman has skirted over the fact that the manifesto on which he stood gave a commitment to remain in the single market. Where is that now?

[Sir William Cash]

It is clear from the wording I read out that safeguarding British interests in the single market applies to the intervening period between the result of the general election, the introduction of the EU Referendum Bill and the referendum itself. Indeed, we are going to have to continue to do that until we get to the later stage.