Contributions
4,303 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDUK’s Withdrawal from the EUI agree wholeheartedly with my right hon. Friend.27 Feb 2019HANSARDUK’s Withdrawal from the EUI was and I have. I have visited that border many times. I visited it with the Police Service of Northern Ireland many times when I was working there for five years—as it policed…27 Feb 2019HANSARDUK’s Withdrawal from the EUI am grateful for that intervention. I will deal with it. I will come to the background and the amendment we have tabled, and I will answer that intervention. If I do not, I will…27 Feb 2019HANSARDUK’s Withdrawal from the EUI am grateful for that intervention and I agree with it. This is really the heart of it: we know what the problem is, we know what the House thinks about the backstop and we know…27 Feb 2019HANSARDUK’s Withdrawal from the EUI am grateful for that intervention, because what it demonstrates is the point I was trying to make about the customs union. If the Government Front Bench say our political…27 Feb 2019HANSARDUK’s Withdrawal from the EUI rise to support amendment (a) in my name and the name of the Leader of the Opposition. It is two weeks since we last voted on a Government Brexit motion, but nothing has…27 Feb 2019HANSARDUK’s Withdrawal from the EUI am going to press on. I will just make some progress. I will give way in just a minute. I do not criticise the Minister for the Cabinet Office, because he quite rightly took…27 Feb 2019HANSARDUK’s Withdrawal from the EUI will deal with the earlier intervention. It was put to me earlier that we should not adopt that course because of the social unrest that it might cause. There are a number of…27 Feb 2019HANSARDUK’s Withdrawal from the EUI have not finished answering the question yet. What I am putting before the House today is entirely consistent with what we said in our manifesto that we would seek to do.…27 Feb 2019HANSARDUK’s Withdrawal from the EUI have not finished answering the question, and it is an important question. If that cannot be done, we will be faced in two weeks with what I think will be the Prime Minister’s…27 Feb 2019HANSARDUK’s Withdrawal from the EUIt is important to appreciate that at the moment, I am pressing an amendment that favours a Brexit deal. In our manifesto we said that, if elected, we would seek to negotiate. We…27 Feb 2019HANSARD UK’s Withdrawal from the EUI am grateful for that intervention, and my right hon. Friend puts his finger on it.14 Feb 2019HANSARD UK’s Withdrawal from the EUI am. Happily, we discussed that at our party conference and agreed unanimously—something I do not think happened at the hon. Gentleman’s party conference— [Interruption.] He…14 Feb 2019HANSARD UK’s Withdrawal from the EUThe position of the Labour party is that we have concerns about the backstop. [ Interruption. ] This is a very serious point and I intend to answer it. I have not yet met anybody…14 Feb 2019HANSARD UK’s Withdrawal from the EUJust as I am about to give the answer I am asked from a sedentary position what the answer is. Perhaps those on the Government Front Bench should just listen. The position is…14 Feb 2019HANSARD UK’s Withdrawal from the EUWell, I am not going to take that lying down for this reason: on the Government Benches, did they vote for the deal on 29 January? [ Interruption. ] Hang on, hear me out. The…14 Feb 2019HANSARD UK’s Withdrawal from the EUI will give way in just a minute. The amendment called for the backstop to be replaced with alternative arrangements. It was extraordinary: a Prime Minister voting to support her…14 Feb 2019HANSARD UK’s Withdrawal from the EUAs for the Prime Minister taking us out of the EU on 29 March this year without a deal—we’ll see about that. I do not think that the majority in this House will countenance that;…14 Feb 2019HANSARD UK’s Withdrawal from the EUThe EU has been very clear about the backstop. It is to be observed that there are hon. Members working on the Malthouse compromise, but it is equally to be observed that the…14 Feb 2019HANSARD UK’s Withdrawal from the EUI do agree with that. One of the things that saddens me most from the discussions I have had in the last two or three weeks—the Secretary of State and others who have had such…14 Feb 2019