Contributions
4,303 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD EU: Withdrawal and Future Relationship (Motions)I will make some progress, because I have spent a lot of time at this Dispatch Box and I have been able to make my case. Others want to make their case today and I want to give…27 Mar 2019HANSARD EU: Withdrawal and Future Relationship (Motions)I welcome this debate. It is a historic day for this Parliament and for the power of MPs. In that spirit, I will keep my remarks very short, because this is a day for Back…27 Mar 2019HANSARD European Union (Withdrawal) ActThat is a very important intervention. Obviously, discussions will take place in the next two days, but the basic proposition that the House needs to decide the substance of any…25 Mar 2019HANSARD European Union (Withdrawal) ActI think it is a version of what has gone before, which is to say that the Government accept there is no majority in this House for a no deal—there certainly is not, and I do not…25 Mar 2019HANSARD European Union (Withdrawal) ActI agree with that because otherwise we inhibit the likelihood of finding a majority. Therefore, that will require careful thought going into Wednesday. Let us assume, for the…25 Mar 2019HANSARD European Union (Withdrawal) ActI am grateful to my hon. Friend for that intervention. I do think there is a trust issue. I hope that that can improve. The letter to President Tusk was an example of that…25 Mar 2019HANSARD European Union (Withdrawal) ActMy hon. Friend anticipates my next sentence, which is that we recognise that Members will have different views on how the process should go forward. There will have to be…25 Mar 2019HANSARD European Union (Withdrawal) ActThe Prime Minister has got herself and the Government into a hopeless position. Having disregarded views from across this House for the best part of two years, the Government now…25 Mar 2019HANSARD European Union (Withdrawal) ActI am grateful for that intervention. On this question of the Government accepting the outcome, if they simply reject whatever is the outcome of this exercise, they will be…25 Mar 2019HANSARD European Union (Withdrawal) ActI am grateful for the right hon. Lady’s intervention. I listened carefully to what the Minister for the Cabinet Office said in relation to the withdrawal agreement. This is no…25 Mar 2019HANSARD European Union (Withdrawal) ActI could not agree more. It is a matter of record that the Prime Minister did not want a vote even on triggering article 50, on which we got a vote only because of a Supreme Court…25 Mar 2019HANSARD European Union (Withdrawal) ActI am going to make some progress now, because I wish to indicate that we would have supported amendment (c) and that we do support amendment (f), tabled by my right hon. Friend…25 Mar 2019HANSARD European Union (Withdrawal) ActI will give way, but then I am going to make some progress because I realise how long I have been talking.25 Mar 2019HANSARD European Union (Withdrawal) ActI have, not least because my hon. Friend raised it with me last week. The difficulty is that the EU argues that, once the withdrawal agreement and political declaration are…25 Mar 2019HANSARD European Union (Withdrawal) ActI agree with that sentiment. I have stood here and been critical of the red lines that the Prime Minister put in place at the beginning of the protest, and I have always seen them…25 Mar 2019HANSARD European Union (Withdrawal) ActI listened carefully to what the Prime Minister said, and I will say something about that in a minute. I think she was saying that she would not say in advance whether she would…25 Mar 2019HANSARD European Union (Withdrawal) ActI honestly cannot see how exploring whether there is a majority for a different approach is inconsistent with anything that we have done so far. It is actually what we should have…25 Mar 2019HANSARD European Union (Withdrawal) ActIf amendment (a) is passed tonight there will be an intense discussion about how the process will take place and what the options will be. When we see those options, the Labour…25 Mar 2019HANSARD European Union (Withdrawal) ActI agree with my hon. Friend. In a sense, we are in this place only because there is no other way to break the deadlock or the impasse.25 Mar 2019HANSARD European Union (Withdrawal) ActI certainly accept the proposition that the EU has said that the withdrawal agreement is not for reopening at any stage, and it has resisted that for month after month from the…25 Mar 2019