Brexit: Invocation of Article 50

Baroness Ludford Excerpts

Monday 19th December 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Goldie]

My Lords, I have often wondered, particularly coming from Scotland as a Conservative, what motivated voters in their electoral instincts when casting votes at elections. In a democracy, we have to recognise and respect the right of individual voters to look at the issues, make their decision and come to a view. That collective view as expressed in the referendum places an obligation upon the Government to discharge that result.

[Baroness Ludford (LD)]

My Lords, the glaring lack of clarity on a Brexit plan six months after the referendum means, in the words of the Financial Times on Saturday, that the Government are,

“giving businesses that rely on single market access little choice other than to act on their worst-case scenarios”,

that there will be a crashing out of the single market. What does the Minister say to those whose jobs will be lost due to her Government’s dithering?