Brexit QUIT SHOCK: May suffers humiliating BLOW - minister resigns over her Brexit 'fudge'
THERESA May’s government has been dealt a stunning blow after Phillip Lee became the first minister to resign over her Brexit policy.
Dr Lee made his shock announcement that he was quitting as a justice
minister at the end of a speech on human rights at an event run by the
Bright Blue thinktank.
The resignation leaves the Government staring at a potential defeat tonight on an amendment which will giveMPs a meaningful vote on the final outcome on the Brexit negotiations and is yet another blow to Theresa May’s authority.
Despite being a Remainer in the Referendum, Dr Lee made it clear to the Express as he left that he was more concerned about the threat of a “fudge” over Brexit.
He said: “I will be issuing a statement later, but let me assure readers of the Daily Express and others that this is not about Remain or Leave it is because I fear we are having the worst of all worlds forced upon us with a fudge in the middle.”
However, in his statement he made it clear that he wants to support amendments which will give MPs the chance to stop a “no deal” and appears to support a second referendum.
He said: “The main reason for my taking this decision now is the Brexit process and the Government’s wish to limit Parliament’s role in contributing to the final outcome in a vote that takes place today.
Brexit news: Minister RESIGNS over Theresa May policy
The resignation leaves the Government staring at a potential defeat tonight on an amendment which will giveMPs a meaningful vote on the final outcome on the Brexit negotiations and is yet another blow to Theresa May’s authority.
Despite being a Remainer in the Referendum, Dr Lee made it clear to the Express as he left that he was more concerned about the threat of a “fudge” over Brexit.
He said: “I will be issuing a statement later, but let me assure readers of the Daily Express and others that this is not about Remain or Leave it is because I fear we are having the worst of all worlds forced upon us with a fudge in the middle.”
However, in his statement he made it clear that he wants to support amendments which will give MPs the chance to stop a “no deal” and appears to support a second referendum.
He said: “The main reason for my taking this decision now is the Brexit process and the Government’s wish to limit Parliament’s role in contributing to the final outcome in a vote that takes place today.
Philip Lee is Remainer but his constituents voted to leave the European Union
“If,
in the future, I am to look my children in the eye and honestly say
that I did my best for them I cannot, in all good conscience, support
how our country’s exit from the EU looks set to be delivered.”
Outlining his Remainer credentials, he went on: “I voted to remain in the European Union and have not changed my view that continued membership would have been the better strategic course. Even so, I believe that it would be impossible and wrong to seek to go back to how things were before the referendum.”
But he also admitted: “We cannot and should not turn back the clock.”
He called for Article 50 to be suspended or delayed to provide more time to negotiate Brexit.
But indicating his support for a second referendum, he said: “When the Government is able to set out an achievable, clearly defined path – one that has been properly considered, whose implications have been foreseen, and that is rooted in reality and evidence, not dreams and dogma – it should go to the people, once again, to seek their confirmation.”
Philip Lee, MP for Bracknell
Outlining his Remainer credentials, he went on: “I voted to remain in the European Union and have not changed my view that continued membership would have been the better strategic course. Even so, I believe that it would be impossible and wrong to seek to go back to how things were before the referendum.”
But he also admitted: “We cannot and should not turn back the clock.”
He called for Article 50 to be suspended or delayed to provide more time to negotiate Brexit.
But indicating his support for a second referendum, he said: “When the Government is able to set out an achievable, clearly defined path – one that has been properly considered, whose implications have been foreseen, and that is rooted in reality and evidence, not dreams and dogma – it should go to the people, once again, to seek their confirmation.”
Philip Lee said he has resigned for his constituents but they voted Leave in the 2016 referendum
Earlier
he told an astounded audience that a Government’s first duty is to
protect its citizens not just in military means but “sometimes when a
majority of our people want something that is against the good of
society.”
He went on: “I believe that the evidence now shows that the Brexit policy our Government is currently pursuing on the basis of the 2016 referendum is detrimental to the people we are elected to serve.
“Certainly, it now seems inevitable that the people, economy and culture of my own constituency will be affected negatively. And I cannot ignore that it is to them that I owe my first responsibility as their Member of Parliament.”
He made it clear he wants the freedom to vote against the Government on the Withdrawal Bill.
He went on: “I believe that the evidence now shows that the Brexit policy our Government is currently pursuing on the basis of the 2016 referendum is detrimental to the people we are elected to serve.
“Certainly, it now seems inevitable that the people, economy and culture of my own constituency will be affected negatively. And I cannot ignore that it is to them that I owe my first responsibility as their Member of Parliament.”
He made it clear he wants the freedom to vote against the Government on the Withdrawal Bill.
Philip Lee has resigned over Brexit negotiations
He
said: “In particular, there is one amendment which – if it is adopted –
will empower Parliament to take back control of the process, if
necessary rejecting a bad deal and directing the Government to re-enter
discussions, extending or pausing negotiations which are being badly
rushed because of the deadline that Article 50 imposes.
Attacking the Government position, he added: “A fake choice between a ‘bad deal’ and a cliff-edge ‘no deal’ - a vote between bad and worse - is not a meaningful choice.
“It would breach such fundamental principles of human rights and Parliamentary sovereignty that we would not recognise it as being valid in other countries. It is not one that our Parliament should accept.
“If it comes to it, my Parliamentary colleagues and I will have to ask ourselves whether we can vote in our own Parliament – that bastion of liberty, freedom and human rights – in favour of something that we would rightly criticise elsewhere. For me, the answer will be I cannot.
“That is why I urge our Government to do the right thing and amend the legislation to ensure that Parliament is properly able to exercise its duty to our country and our constituents by ensuring we are not stuck with a bad deal or no deal.”
Attacking the Government position, he added: “A fake choice between a ‘bad deal’ and a cliff-edge ‘no deal’ - a vote between bad and worse - is not a meaningful choice.
“It would breach such fundamental principles of human rights and Parliamentary sovereignty that we would not recognise it as being valid in other countries. It is not one that our Parliament should accept.
“If it comes to it, my Parliamentary colleagues and I will have to ask ourselves whether we can vote in our own Parliament – that bastion of liberty, freedom and human rights – in favour of something that we would rightly criticise elsewhere. For me, the answer will be I cannot.
“That is why I urge our Government to do the right thing and amend the legislation to ensure that Parliament is properly able to exercise its duty to our country and our constituents by ensuring we are not stuck with a bad deal or no deal.”
But giving his reason for going, he
said: “It is hard to be part of a Government that would countenance the
breach of such fundamental principles – and it is important that
individual ministers and Parliamentarians should be able to speak up.
But effective Government in our country also relies on the important
principle of collective responsibility.
“So I am very sad to have to announce that I feel I must resign as a minister so that I can properly speak out for my country and my constituents.”
Earlier he made a thinly veiled attack on the post-Brexit vision of many senior Brexit Tories on Britain deregulating and scrapping the Human Rights Act.
Arguing that “the Conservative way” was creating and upholding human rights he listed a series of historical Tory figures including the philosopher Edmund Burke, former prime ministers Sir Robert Peel, Benjamin Disraeli and Margaret Thatcher, and reformers such as Lord Shaftesbury who had shaped human rights as we know them today.
He said that Theresa May’s famous Downing Street words on tackling “burning injustices” was in line with that.
But he warned against the Brexiteer free market view of life outside the EU.
He said: “We should be guided by the courage, determination and wisdom that Wilberforce showed to end slavery. And that Shaftesbury showed to end child exploitation. They had powerful opponents.
Because the end of the slave trade meant the end of a very profitable market that damaged the economy in places like Bristol, Liverpool and the West Indies. The end of child labour and the introduction of compulsory education made life hard for families who relied on income from their children and for factory owners who faced expensive regulation.
“Tackling those injustices was not the free market choice, nor the profitable choice. But it was the right thing to do. It was the Conservative thing to do.”
Dr Lee’s resignation was greeted with applause in the room from a largely Remainer audience at Bright Blue and took his colleagues completely by surprise.
However, fellow Tory MP Nick Boles praised him in a Tweet which appeared to be aimed at Brexit Secretary David Davis who has threatened to resign but failed to walk.
Mr Boles said: “I don't agree with @DrPhillipLeeMP about the idea of holding a referendum on the Brexit deal. But I admire his honesty and integrity. So much classier to resign on principle when nobody is expecting it, than to threaten resignation but never follow through.”
“So I am very sad to have to announce that I feel I must resign as a minister so that I can properly speak out for my country and my constituents.”
Earlier he made a thinly veiled attack on the post-Brexit vision of many senior Brexit Tories on Britain deregulating and scrapping the Human Rights Act.
Arguing that “the Conservative way” was creating and upholding human rights he listed a series of historical Tory figures including the philosopher Edmund Burke, former prime ministers Sir Robert Peel, Benjamin Disraeli and Margaret Thatcher, and reformers such as Lord Shaftesbury who had shaped human rights as we know them today.
He said that Theresa May’s famous Downing Street words on tackling “burning injustices” was in line with that.
But he warned against the Brexiteer free market view of life outside the EU.
He said: “We should be guided by the courage, determination and wisdom that Wilberforce showed to end slavery. And that Shaftesbury showed to end child exploitation. They had powerful opponents.
Because the end of the slave trade meant the end of a very profitable market that damaged the economy in places like Bristol, Liverpool and the West Indies. The end of child labour and the introduction of compulsory education made life hard for families who relied on income from their children and for factory owners who faced expensive regulation.
“Tackling those injustices was not the free market choice, nor the profitable choice. But it was the right thing to do. It was the Conservative thing to do.”
Dr Lee’s resignation was greeted with applause in the room from a largely Remainer audience at Bright Blue and took his colleagues completely by surprise.
However, fellow Tory MP Nick Boles praised him in a Tweet which appeared to be aimed at Brexit Secretary David Davis who has threatened to resign but failed to walk.
Mr Boles said: “I don't agree with @DrPhillipLeeMP about the idea of holding a referendum on the Brexit deal. But I admire his honesty and integrity. So much classier to resign on principle when nobody is expecting it, than to threaten resignation but never follow through.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment