Leaving the EU: Business of the House

Tom Brake Excerpts

Wednesday 12th June 2019 Commons Chamber

[Keir Starmer]

It did not end well for Charles I. We find ourselves in a very serious position. Having been through the best part of three years of debate and argument about Brexit, there is a suggestion that Parliament should be shut out of the process, with no further business until November. That is completely unacceptable.

[Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington) (LD)]

Some highly irresponsible Tory leadership contenders are traipsing around the country advocating no deal when before the referendum they were saying, for example,

“mutual self-interest suggests we’d cut a very good deal”,

or talking about

“a free trade arrangement that continues to give access to UK goods and services on the European continent.”

There are many other examples where those very same candidates, prior to the referendum, were offering the best deal possible, but now seem to be advocating crashing out—which would not affect them personally, financially speaking, I am sure, but would affect many of their constituents.

[Keir Starmer]

I agree with that intervention and I am grateful for it. This translation, or attempted translation, of the vote to leave into a vote for no deal is to misrepresent the arguments and what was said at the time of the referendum.