Contributions
4,303 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Britain's Place in the WorldI take the point about deadlines, but the serious question underpinning it is, what will be the position if it gets up to that deadline and, for whatever reason, the negotiations…15 Oct 2019HANSARD Britain's Place in the WorldI said from the very start that we should have a meaningful vote on the deal so we can judge whether it is good enough. We had to fight for that, because the previous Prime…15 Oct 2019HANSARD Britain's Place in the WorldLet me be clear about my position. If we go down the road of having a referendum, I think that it must be between a negotiated deal and remain. When I say “negotiated deal”, I…15 Oct 2019HANSARD Britain's Place in the WorldI do agree with that and it chimes with what I was saying. I think there was a second part of the challenge that was put to me that I have not yet addressed, which is: surely our…15 Oct 2019HANSARD Britain's Place in the WorldThat means we should have voted for any deal. We might as well not have had the vote. We set out the sort of deal we would support, but the previous Prime Minister did not reach…15 Oct 2019HANSARD Britain's Place in the WorldI will in just one moment. The reality is that, of the seven Bills paraded as the centrepiece, five were exactly the same as the ones that have just been dropped and one is the…15 Oct 2019HANSARD Britain's Place in the WorldI will just finish this point, then I will. Once we say, “I don’t want to be part of those rules or regulations; I want to diverge”, we are moving our gaze away from the EU as our…15 Oct 2019HANSARD Britain's Place in the WorldI hope the Secretary of State would come to the House to answer that question and the many other questions that go with it. My judgment call is that a no deal fundamentally…15 Oct 2019HANSARD Britain's Place in the WorldI will give way, and then I will make some progress.15 Oct 2019HANSARD Britain's Place in the WorldMy principal position is this: we did the right thing several weeks ago in passing a simple piece of legislation that says, “If by 19 October there is neither a deal nor agreement…15 Oct 2019HANSARD Britain's Place in the WorldI do not know how many times I have stood at this Dispatch Box pressing amendments for a permanent customs union and single market alignment, and for a level playing field on…15 Oct 2019HANSARD Britain's Place in the WorldAt this stage, any deal that comes back from this Government ought to be put back to the public for them to decide whether those are the terms they want to leave on or not. I came…15 Oct 2019HANSARD Britain's Place in the WorldI do agree. I cannot help feeling that in 2015 we had a Prime Minister who promised a referendum we did not need in order to try to hold his party together, then we had a Prime…15 Oct 2019HANSARD Britain's Place in the WorldI will give way in just a minute. There would be obvious consequences for our public services, for businesses, for food and environmental standards and for workers’ rights. I know…15 Oct 2019HANSARD Preparations for Leaving the EUThe Prime Minister should be here. Talks with the EU are collapsing as we speak. The proposals that the Government introduced last week were never going to work, and instead of…08 Oct 2019HANSARDWithdrawal Agreement: Proposed ChangesThank you for granting this urgent question, Mr Speaker. The Government have presented the EU with a 44-page legal text, a seven-page memorandum and a four-page letter. In this…07 Oct 2019HANSARDWithdrawal Agreement: Proposed Changes(Urgent Question) : To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union if he will make a statement on when the Government intend to publish the full legal text of their…07 Oct 2019HANSARDCompliance with the European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019The Act that was passed three weeks ago is very simple. If by 19 October the Prime Minister has not got a deal through and has not secured the agreement of the House to no deal,…26 Sept 2019HANSARD Brexit Readiness: Operation YellowhammerI thank the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster for an advance copy of his statement. Let us get to the detail and test what he says. First, the right hon. Gentleman says that…25 Sept 2019HANSARDProrogation (Disclosure of Communications)I agree. The Government are telling us to get ready, but they will not tell us what to get ready for. I say that really just to underline that these are not trivial documents.…09 Sept 2019