Parliament has passed the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill, with both House of Lords amendments removed. Once given Royal Assent by HM The Queen, it will allow the government to trigger Article 50 in time for the Prime Minister’s own end-of-March deadline and begin the official two-year process of our exit from the Union.
While I campaigned vociferously to remain a member of the EU, I do think Article 50 should now be triggered. A majority voted to leave in the referendum, and we should respect the result, regardless of how many lies were told. I agree with George Osborne that there is no longer a 48%, nor a 52%, just 100%; we are leaving the EU as one nation, and we need to have a real discussion about what that means and how we go about it.
I still believe seceding our membership will leave us worse off, in fact we have already been negatively impacted by the falling Pound, but to ignore such a significant dictation of democracy would simply entrench the referendum division in society. Those aggrieved by the decision would grow in their false convictions, and could potentially go on to elect a leader such as Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen, Geert Wilders, Rodrigo Duterte…
Another referendum might show a distinct democratic change in opinion, but it would also deeply undermine the government. It doesn’t require too much cynicism to suggest that announcing such a decision would result in the same problems of division, and encourage the EU to force a bad deal in the hope it would be rejected by the British people. I think a general election with explicit manifesto commitments would be sufficient to stop Brexit, but it would surely be a mere exercise in futility.
No. I would rather see Brexit through, managed by a moderate party, than risk seeing an extreme party come to power and do untold damage which could tear our country apart with (to coin a phrase) a “Brexit plus-plus-plus”. It’s a very British revolution, and who knows? If we manage to achieve our negotiating objectives, we could even go on to forge a new path with the potential to re-converge with Europe at some point in the future.
Andrew Bulman 