European Union (Future Relationship) Bill

Lord Inglewood Excerpts

3rd reading & 2nd reading & Committee negatived & 2nd reading (Hansard) & 2nd reading (Hansard): House of Lords & 3rd reading (Hansard) & 3rd reading (Hansard): House of Lords & Committee negatived (Hansard) & Committee negatived (Hansard): House of Lords
Wednesday 30th December 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Inglewood (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, as an avowed remainer, I hoped I would never be faced with this evening’s decision, but we are where we are, and I have got to. What has struck me about the process we are going through is how constitutionally smooth and seamless it has been, despite the political noise and turmoil.

Legal sovereignty is about taking decisions and implementing them, and how that is done. Brexit has been politically complicated, but it has been a relatively straightforward exercise of our sovereignty, which was not inherently affected by EU membership. Not for the first time, we have changed the way we do things and we may and are entitled to do so again in the future. This appears to contrast with the inevitable economic consequences of change, which, together with Covid, in the short and medium term are going to be very economically damaging. I do not see any alternative in the circumstances other than to do a deal, which does what I might call a “Dunkirk” for some, but not all, our businesses and commerce. We must not forget that regulatory rules are becoming the new tariff wars in the 21^st century.

I am a northerner, I chair a northern local enterprise partnership and I eagerly look forward to levelling up. Hitherto, in my experience it is London that has always been the problem, not the EU. The economic implications of no deal are horrifying, and you cannot level up if you haven’t got any money.

In another sector, compared to no deal, our fellow citizens’ rights and freedoms are less extensively expropriated and our wider security is better. Individual and collective freedoms matter. Historically, geographically and culturally we are everywhere—and everyone agrees—part of Europe. We shall have to work closely together. To reject the deal now would be a supreme act of bad faith which would destroy our negotiating bona fides for the future.

Finally, after the political events in this country of recent years, Parliament and the country as a whole must reflect carefully on what has been going on. The other place, at least to me, appears to be evolving into an electoral college which defines the executive. Once done, the executive then controls it via the whips’ office and patronage; this has nothing to do with party. It looks as if we are edging towards a unicameral parliament controlled by the executive, which, quite apart from everything else, tend to be bullies.

As the noble and learned Lord, Lord Judge, commented earlier in this debate, and as was echoed by others, it is Parliament that legislates under our constitution, and is the body to which the executive is answerable. It is one of our constitution’s core principles. Another one is that the arrangements incorporate checks and balances and we must not inadvertently lose them, and carelessly do so, by allowing them to disappear by default.