Parliament, Article 50 and the case for a second referendum
- 2017-01-27
- By ReimaginingEurope
- Posted in Dick Newby
It is now seven months since the referendum, and the fog is only just beginning to clear on the Government’s post-Brexit vision for the UK. We are also now somewhat clearer on why people voted in the way they did.
The overarching message which I take from the result, is that very many people feel alienated from the way the country is run and are worried about their economic futures. They don’t see the benefits of recent social and economic change. And they see large scale immigration as a threat, not as a benefit. Brexit alone would not assuage these fears, not least as it is likely to be accompanied by a weaker economy and-huge uncertainties for many years about Britain’s place in the world. Immigration is unlikely to be significantly curbed, because the vast majority of migrants come in order to fill gaps in the labour market which will not suddenly disappear. Being outside the EU will not create thousands of indigenous doctors and nurses or make many more unqualified young people suddenly become willing to become poorly paid farm labourers or carers. The answers to people’s alienation must rest in making their lives more fulfilled – by providing better housing, better education and training and more jobs. These policies are needed irrespective of Brexit but now assume a new urgency.
As for Brexit itself, the Government has made its red lines curbing EU migration and removing the UK from the jurisdiction of the European Court. Theresa May’s recent speech accepts the logic of this by admitting that we will leave the single market and (to all intents and purposes) the customs union. It will be very bad for jobs, particularly in the longer term. And, even since 23 June international events strengthen the case for Europe to be working every more closely together – not splitting apart. On the one hand Donald Trump says NATO is “obsolete” and other EU members should follow the UK example and leave. On the other Putin is ever more threatening both to Ukraine and the Baltic states. Whilst Britain remains an EU member, Theresa May is involved, at the regular EU Council meetings, in discussions with her co-leaders in discussions on security , defence and migration. After Brexit, there would be no regular political forum in which the UK would take part in such discussions. This must be harmful for our country and for the well-being of Europe as a whole.
At the end of the Brexit negotiations, there will be a deal covering the divorce terms and our future relationship with the EU. This deal must be approved by one or all of three bodies - Government, Parliament and/or the people in a further referendum. The people decided via the referendum to start the Brexit process. Given the many different views which the leave voters had about what Brexit might actually look like, it is inevitable that many of their hopes will not have been fulfilled by the final deal. In my view it is therefore logical and sensible for the country as a whole, via a referendum, to decide whether they believe that the deal is better than continued EU membership. Far from being undemocratic, as some Brexiters claim, this is the only way to ensure public endorsement of what by any measure, is the largest decision facing the country. If and when a Bill to trigger Article 50 Bill comes before Parliament, Lib Dems in both the Commons and Lords will be seeking to insert such a provision in the Bill. I hope that we will succeed.
About the author
Born in Rothwell, West Yorkshire Dick Newby attended Rothwell Grammar School before studying Politics, Philosophy and Economics at St Catherine’s College Oxford. He grew up in a Labour stronghold and was a member of the Labour Party at university and in several London Boroughs. During the 1975 European referendum, He was General Secretary of Young European Left, the pro-European youth wing of the Labour Party. He was created a Lib Dem life peer with the title Baron Newby, of Rothwell in the County of West Yorkshire in 1997.He is married to Ailsa, the Rector of St Mary’s Putney, venue of the famous Civil War Army debates and have two adult sons. He received an OBE in 1990 for his service to politics.
I agree and have joined the Lib Dems today! Long overdue.
Most nations make bad decisions at some point like we and the USA did in 2016 and others in the past – think of 1933!
Like the terrible decision our Government made, to join the “Common Market” in 1973, and when the British people believed the lies, told by Ted Heath and others, like, “There will be no loss of sovereignty” & voted in the 1975 referendum, to stay in!!
In 2016, our nation reversed, those terrible decisions, and voted for freedom, and end to our bondage. I know several remain voters, who now believe, we will be better off out, as all the dire prophecies of doom and gloom, have been proved false.
Unfortunately I disagree with the Lib Dem insistence on another referendum. If you think that the first result was wrong, do you think that the next one will be right?
As regards this being a website for airing Christian viewpoints, this posting has nothing to offer.
What ever the result of the final deal with Europe, it will still be the job of the Christian population to bring the good news to those who will listen and take up the cause of the poor, widowed and orphans in whatever context we find that, finding justice and reconciliation between people
Well said, in or out, makes no difference, to the Great Commission our Lord gave us.
We voted Liberal & Lib Dem for years, but could not support their view, that we should be a vassal state, so changed to vote for the best candidate! The doom and gloom about a BREXIT vote, has been proved by time, to be hogwash. We need to be a independent nation free to trade with any other nation, and to set our own laws, just as other nations do. As to security, we will still share info, with our allies, and work with them, but the EU has never been a bastion of freedom. Our security has been in NATO. We are one of the largest economies in the world, and will remain so. If the EEC wishes to trade with us, then we are happy to do so, just as we are happy to trade with the rest of the world. But if they set unfair tariffs, then they will hurt themselves, more than us, as they sell us, more than we sell them. Britain has seen the many failures of the EU, and voted to leave. Remember our ship building & repair industry, killed off by the EU. Why has our steel industry shrunk so much? Well, much of the steel produced, was sold to the ship builders, so blame the EU for our steel industry problems. Remember our large fishing industry? Decimated by the EU. The Common Agriculture Policy, pays farmers to produce, what is not wanted, and is destroyed. It is likely that in a few years time, the 27 remaining members will have shrunk dramatically, as other countries see the benefits of freedom, and also leave, this undemocratic body and regain their independence.
Lets face facts. The only reason you want a referendum on the BREXIT deal, is in the hope we will be stuck in the mire of the EU. If the remain camp had won the referendum, & the leave camp wanted a further referendum, you would have laughed at them. Your side lost, so now let us work together, to build a independent UK, looking to the prosperous future, not looking back at what might have been.
The assertion that the deal negotiated under Article 50 must be approved by one or all three bodies Government, Parliament and/ or the people in a further referendum ignores the provisions of that article. These require the deal to be decided by a qualified majority of Member States. Clarity over the legal possibilities for the “three bodies” to affect that decision before launching the Article 50 procedure would seem warranted.