Last week saw the passing of the EU Withdrawal Brexit Bill after it came back from the House of Lords and passed the final vote in the House of Commons. Her Majesty the Queen gave the Bill her Royal Assent on Thursday and it is now law that we will be leaving the EU at 11pm on Friday.
The passing of the Withdrawal Bill marks the end of the first step of our leaving the European Union and delivering on the result of the referendum in 2016 where our constituency, Cornwall and the UK voted to Leave.
It has been a rocky road, and one that has been made a lot more difficult than it should have been by some MP’s from the last Parliament doing everything they could do frustrate its passage, and delay or stop Brexit altogether.
In my eyes this activity had the potential to seriously damage the public’s trust in not just any particular political party, but in the institute of Parliament and democracy in general. If we had failed to deliver on the single biggest vote in our history it would have been a long road to rebuild trust. Thankfully we are not in that position now.
This outcome is only possible due to having a majority in Parliament as a result of last month’s election. Boris Johnson should be given great credit for the steps, and risk he took, which thankfully have paid off.
The Bill which had previously struggled for months to make any progress through Parliament and came to a stalemate which led to the General Election in December, has now passed through Parliament into law in a little less than a month.
We have ‘Got Brexit Done’ and delivered on the primary commitment of our manifesto.
Leaving the EU on Friday will enable us to progress to focusing on our future outside of the EU and our future relationship with them. The crucial thing is that now we will be negotiating with our friends in the European Union from the perspective of having already left, rather than continuing to ponder the question as to whether we will be leaving or not.
I am proud to be part of the Government that has delivered Brexit and now look forward to working with this government to ensure our future outside the EU is a positive one both in terms of our ongoing relationship with the EU and also with the rest of the world.
It will also free our Parliamentary schedule to concentrate on the important domestic priorities in our recent manifesto, which we have already in the last week seen benefit for Cornwall in the form of an additional £23.7million for the Devon and Cornwall Police and the confirmation that Cornwall is part of a pilot to support older people in staying in their homes and out of hospital.
There was one vote last week which I know had raised some attention from our political opponents and that was on the matter of child refugees. Opposition parties sought to place an amendment to the Withdrawal Bill to include a commitment to continue to take child refugees. However, this Bill was not the place for this amendment. The government’s position has not changed on this matter and our commitment to take child refugees is already enshrined in law. It should not be caught up in our process of leaving the EU in the way this amendment sought to do. We will continue to be an open and compassionate country that is a safe home for children fleeing war and persecution. This will not change.
My team and I are here to serve the whole constituency and work hard to make a real difference to the lives of everyone needing support. The office is open to the public Monday – Friday 10.00am – 4.00pm (no appointment necessary). If there is an issue you would like my assistance on then please, either visit the office or contact me on either 01726 829379 or office@stevedouble.org.uk. Additionally, I hold regular, appointment only, advice surgeries across the constituency. Dates of these can be found at: www.stevedouble.org.uk/events
