Debates between Lord Newby and Lord Campbell-Savours during the 2017-2019 Parliament

Mon 30th Apr 2018
European Union (Withdrawal) Bill
Lords Chamber

Report: 4th sitting (Hansard): House of Lords

European Union (Withdrawal) Bill

Debate between Lord Newby and Lord Campbell-Savours
Lord Campbell-Savours Portrait Lord Campbell-Savours (Lab)
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Will the noble Lord answer the question asked by my noble friend Lord Grocott? I understand that he speaks for his own Front Bench and that what he says is, therefore, the formal position of his party. In the event that this referendum were to take place, would the Liberal Democrats accept its result as binding?

Lord Newby Portrait Lord Newby
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Whatever the legal words, it would be politically binding, by which I mean that the Commons would not seek to overturn it. That is the precedent set by this referendum. We know that, at the time, the vast majority of Members of the House of Commons opposed the outcome of the referendum. They accepted it, though, because that was the political reality, whether it was technically a binding referendum or not. However the people vote if there is a further referendum, that will be taken by the Commons as a binding mandate from the people.

We have to accept that, whatever the outcome of the Brexit process, the country is now very deeply divided. Anybody who has been out canvassing in recent weeks will be only too well aware of that. Many Members of your Lordships’ House will know how keenly their children and grandchildren feel on this issue. All of us who are engaged in public life have a duty to reduce this division in the years ahead, but that great challenge now confronts us, referendum or no referendum.