Tonight’s votes in @HouseofCommons on #Brexit were really quite shameful. The Government adopted changes that went against the proposals in its own white paper (that it had only agreed last Friday). It changed its position at the last minute
The first duty of Government is to do what’s right for our country and to be honest. This sort of last-minute change undermines both and I certainly couldn’t in all honesty support it. That would be politics at its worst....
Instead, the Government must face up to the #Brexit challenge, be honest with people about what’s possible and what isn’t, #SuspendA50 until it has worked out what it wants - and later offer a #2ndEUref once it has established good, realistic options for our country
On top of all this, the Government now wants to bring forward Parliament’s summer recess. I can’t possibly go along with that and I don’t see how anyone else could at this critical time with the clock ticking on #Brexit; it would be shameful even to consider it
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With more turmoil looming over #Brexit this week, it's heartening to see support growing to #SuspendA50 and hold a #2ndEUref - most recently from @JustineGreening. What’s best for our country must be at the front of our minds
Like all who want #SuspendA50 & hold a #2ndEUref, I want time to do a decent deal then take stock and check that’s what people really want. It’s the only logical option for us all: country, party, EU and the rest of the world
We need time to determine the future of our country, & what our final Brexit position should be. We then need to put this back to people in a new vote. We must be sure that the Brexit we decide on (if we take this direction) is right. We mustn’t rush or act on this irrationally.
It’s good that the Government has a common approach to #Brexit; we needed that before triggering Article 50. Now we need a strategy to get the best outcome for our country. That’s the only way to reunify it...
1. We need to #SuspendA50 to give us time to do the job of negotiating a deal properly. For better or worse the EU affects almost every aspect our lives - from our health to our work to the air we breathe. A rushed job will be a bad job - for us & the EU
2. We also need to recognise how far & fast the EU is moving on issues that matter to us - like migration, which largely fuelled the vote to Leave
If, in the future, I am to look my children in the eye and honestly say that I did my best for them I cannot, in all good conscience, support how our country’s current exit from the EU looks set to be delivered.
I voted to remain in the European Union and have not changed my view that continued membership would have been the better strategic course. Even so, I believe that it would be impossible and wrong to seek to go back to how things were before the referendum.
If Brexit is worth doing, then it is certainly worth doing well; regardless of how long that takes.