I'm no fan of either Clarke or McDonnell, but this is the most sensible proposal in Parliament since the referendum. It's a "have your cake and eat it" scenario, if the amendment is voted in. The EU will stop us getting a deal - it demonstrates that the union is strong and not easily broken, and retains the UK economy inside it.
Via Stephen Phillips.
Ken Clarke, the veteran pro-EU Conservative, increased the pressure to do what is necessary to strike an agreement, ahead of the Prime Minister’s surprise dinner with the EU’s top officials. An amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill, co-tabled by Mr Clarke, would put into law Ms May’s plan for a two-year transition period - preventing Brexit if that transition is not agreed.
Asked if MPs could stop a no-deal Brexit in that way, he vowed: “Parliament can veto anything it wants.” Mr Clarke – who insisted he was not trying to reverse Brexit, if there was a workable plan – said “only a handful of hard right-wing Eurosceptics think no deal is desirable”. In fact, it would have a “catastrophic effect” on the British economy, he said, describing it as “complete fantasy, la-la land, going down the hole with the white rabbit”.
Yesterday, John McDonnell, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, said there were “enough sensible people in the House of Commons” to prevent the growing risk of a no deal exit. Mr Clarke, speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, agreed, saying: “This is a parliamentary democracy – parliament can do practically whatever it likes.”
Even if parliament did vote down a no deal exit, it would need the rest of the EU to agree to extend the two-year Article 50 process - ticking down to exit on March 30, 2019 - or for it to be revoked. The Prime Minister has insisted that, at the end of the negotiations, MPs will have only two options - to support whatever deal is on offer, or to accept no deal.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/theresa-may-no-deal-brexit-veto-ken-clarke-brussels-trip-leave-eu-conservatives-amendment-john-a8002506.html
That's a really poorly phrased headline. The first reading of it suggests that Theras May is doing the telling.
ReplyDeleteDunno, it seemed fine to me. But then newspaper speak is always funny.
ReplyDelete"Patrician Attacks Clerk With Knife! (He had the knife, not the clerk.)"
Well, good luck with that, you'll still need it.
ReplyDelete