A number of constituents who support a revocation
of Article 50 have written to me asking if I would reconsider my position on
Brexit.
It opens with “It’s a turd of a deal, but it’s
better than crashing out; however, you must surely know that the best thing is
to remain”.
I am glad that they have taken note of my
particular choice of words in describing the Brexit deal which has been received
much media attention.
That said, I disagree with the rest of their
proposition as set out in the email, namely that we would be better off
remaining in the EU and that “it makes no sense at all” to pursue Brexit.
My views on Brexit will be well known to them by
now.
What makes no sense to me and to the majority of
the voters who for Brexit in the 2016 referendum is in fact any notion that we
should revoke Article 50.
It is often forgotten these days that in 2017 the
House of Commons voted by a majority of 384 votes (498-114) to trigger Article
50.
MPs including many who now advocate remaining in
the EU, voted two years ago in favour of leaving of the EU.
The people of the United Kingdom, and the
constituents of St Austell and Newquay especially by nearly a 2-1 margin, voted
for our great nation to leave our membership of the European Union.
A key fundamental principle of our representative
democracy is that when politicians go to the people to seek their views in a
referendum or election, they are obliged to then deliver the outcome of that
vote.
From the 1975 EEC Referendum to the 2011
Alternative Vote Referendum, the politicians that allowed the national
referendum to take place has always delivered on the results of that particular
referendum.
This does not mean the people are then forever
bound to that decision, but it is incumbent upon government of the time to
always deliver the results of the referendum after it is held, before
subsequent governments can go back to the people to seek their opinion a second
time.
I do not write these rules; this is simply how
democracy works.
I am a democrat and I believe that in order to
safeguard our democracy we need to implement the will of the nation, as
expressed in the results of the referendum, by leaving the European Union as
soon as possible.
Our future is bright outside of the European Union
and I will continue to work hard to ensure that we have a deal that fully
delivers the results of the 2016 referendum and for every constituent.
