Lord Campbell of Pittenweem
Main Page: Lord Campbell of Pittenweem (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Campbell of Pittenweem's debates with the Leader of the House
(8 years, 1 month ago)
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Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
A range of issues are involved in the transitional arrangements, the Department for Exiting the EU is considering them and a lot of work is going on. Of course we want to ensure that we are using the expertise and skills of universities and trade negotiators to get the best deal.
Lord Campbell of Pittenweem (LD)
My Lords, quite the most interesting feature of the Statement is the second-last sentence, which reads:
“and we can secure the deal that is right for the British people, whose instruction”—
my emphasis—
“it is our duty to deliver”.
Are we embarking on a rather novel constitutional change, in which an advisory referendum becomes an instruction to government? Is not the proper inference to be drawn from that sentence that the Government intend—whatever the circumstances, deal or no deal, even if it is patently against the interests of the people of the United Kingdom—to persist in the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union?