A number of constituents have written to me asking "
Please support a new EU referendum."
The campaign for a 2nd referendum on our membership of
the European Union has been well covered. My position on this has not changed,
and is very unlikely to do so. However, I lay out below my reasons why I do not
support another referendum.
84% of all votes cast at the last election were for
parties who said they would implement the result of the referendum. The mandate
is overwhelming. The call for yet another test of public opinion is
disingenuous. It is led by those who have never accepted the outcome of the
referendum and seek to overturn it.
This suggestion of asking people again is often
patronising : the argument that people "didn’t know what they were voting
for," apart from being hugely demeaning to the 17.4mllion people who voted
to leave, and is quite frankly bizarre.
"The voters don’t know what they voted for so let's ask them again!"
My position on Brexit has been consistent and is very
much a long held view of mine; that we would be much better out of the EU.
I backed a people’s vote in 2016. Our constituency voted
by almost 2-1 in favour of leave, the biggest margin in Cornwall.
I voted to leave and I believe my job as a
parliamentarian is to get on with delivering the results of the people’s vote.
I am committed to delivering the results of the
referendum, nationally and locally, by ensuring that we leave the EU on 29
March 2019. It is vital for our democracy we respect the decision the British
people made in 2016’s referendum and deliver what the people voted for.
Additionally, during the election campaign last year I
stood on a very clear message that I would respect the result of the referendum
and work to deliver Brexit. I received a clear mandate in that election
receiving and biggest vote and biggest majority ever seen in the constituency.
I, along with vast majority of my colleagues in
Parliament, are of the opinion that the referendum on the UK’s membership of
European Union was a clear and fair vote, demonstrating that we as a nation are
in favour of leaving the European Union. Those suggesting that somehow people
did not understand what they were voting for are both patronising and
disrespectful.
I do not support another referendum. Not only would it
not be respecting the 2016 vote, which was a people’s vote, it would also
undermine the negotiating position. It would also cause further delay and
uncertainty.
The vast majority of people tell me they simply want us
to get on with things and leave. Businesses in particular want to know, as soon
as possible what the future will hold.
It is doubtful there would even be time for another
referendum within the time available but even if it could be shoehorned into
the schedule, the delay and certainty would be the last thing we need.
Of course there is also the question that if we held
another referendum, if there were people unhappy with the result of that one,
would they then want another one, and so on until they got a result they were
happy with? That isn’t 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.
Every week my post bag burgeons with constituents seeking
assurance that we will have a full and meaningful Brexit as compared with just
a very few who of alternative view.
