Exiting the European Union — House of Lords, 2018-12-10
Topic: International Affairs
Richard Newby (Liberal Democrats, Centre to centre-left): My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness the Leader of the House for repeating the Statement This is a curiously insubstantial Statement. It appears to be a demonstration of one of the Prime Minister’s most tried and tested political tactics: kicking the can down the road for another week. Why? She is open and straightforward about that; she has been listening to what has been said and has formed the understandable view that the deal will be, "rejected by a significant margin", in the Commons. What is her response to this imminent rejection? She says: "I spoke to a number of EU leaders over the weekend, and in advance of the European Council I will go to see my counterparts in other member states and the leadership of the Council and the Commission. I will discuss with them the clear concerns that this House has expressed" I am sure that she will explain that she cannot get the current deal through in its current form, but what happens next? She says that she will seek to ensure, "additional reassurance on the question of the backstop" What does "reassurance" mean in this context? What specific reassurances is the Prime Minister looking for, particularly given that she knows that the reopening of the whole withdrawal agreement is simply not on offer? I think Leo Varadkar speaks for everyone who has given an opinion from the EU side today when he says: "It is not possible to reopen any aspect of that agreement without reopening all aspects of it" Obviously, the Prime Minister is not in the market for reopening all aspects of the agreement, therefore she accepts that the backstop is not negotiable. Indeed she does, because she says: "Many of the most controversial aspects of this deal—including the backstop—are simply inescapable facts of having a negotiated Brexit" She then challenges her opponents in her own party: "Those members who … disagree need to shoulder the responsibility of advocating an alternative solution that can be delivered" It is quite clear, from everything the Prime Minister has said in recent weeks, that she does not believe that such an alternative solution exists Having in effect accepted that she will not secure significant changes this weekend on the backstop, the Prime Minister has reverted to one of her other most common tactics: the Government’s own Project Fear with regard to no-deal Brexit. She says that, "the Government will step up their work in preparation for that potential outcome and the Cabinet will hold further discussions on it this week" I wonder how many weeks and how many Statements have contained that statement that the Cabinet will have further discussions on something and step up preparations for a no-deal Brexit. Can the noble Baroness the Leader tell us how much money has already been spent on a no-deal Brexit, and what the Government’s plans are with regard to expenditure between now and the end of March The Prime Minister then says that there is a real danger that if, "we fail to agree a deal, the risk of an accidental no deal increases" But the possibility of an accidental no deal has disappeared with the Grieve amendment. You will have an accidental no deal only if the Commons, by some means, is denied the opportunity to vote on something else. The Grieve amendment now means that the Commons will have the opportunity to vote on something else in any circumstance. The noble Lord, Lord Callanan, shakes his head; perhaps he can advise the Leader what to say in response to that, because I thought that is what the Grieve amendment meant. If it does not mean that, perhaps she will tell us what it means Not only is there a whiff of decay around the Government in general, but there is an overwhelming sense that the Prime Minister is going through the motions before bringing the same deal back to Parliament either next week or early in the new year. It is now clearer than ever that the Government’s deal—the best possible deal, according to the Prime Minister—is an extremely unappetising dog’s breakfast. The Commons has already, in effect, rejected it; its last rites should now be given by the people.