You Deserve A People’s Vote
This week parliament considers the most significant Treaty since the Second World War, and the only Treaty in history intended to make us less prosperous and reduce the amount of free trade we are doing with our largest trading partner.
Theresa May wrote to each of us, publishing an 800 word letter to the nation ahead of Parliament’s consideration of the EU Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration. She asked us to get behind her deal. I cannot.
She offered the nation three choices, her Deal, No Deal or No Brexit.
Remaining in the EU is the best deal on the table.
I believe you deserve a say, not just Parliament
And here’s why.
We were promised by the Leave Campaign a more prosperous future, to take back control and so gain more sovereignty, and that we would both retain all same benefits we currently enjoy in our existing treaties with the EU and strike bold new trade deals around the world. Our family, neighbours, friends and colleagues who voted leave did so for many reasons. Some for sovereignty, some for the money promised to the NHS, some for worries about immigration, some for new trade deals promised around the world.
Yet, since the UK joined the EEC and then the EU the UK pays in 0.59% of its GNI, a smaller proportion than any other country in the EU, and GDP per head has risen faster in the UK than any G7 economy but Japan. So till the 2016 vote we were powering ahead of the US and Germany. Since the Brexit referendum our growth rate has fallen to the bottom of the European Country economies, and the Government tell us their proposed deal will leave the country worse off, not better off.
In her letter to us all, the Prime Minister tells us the deal is in our national interest. Yet this deal will see the peace, power and prosperity we enjoy as an EU member today diminished. The last seven years has seen the longest period of peace Europe has enjoyed – ever. This is no mean feat and has been a result of our close ties and membership of the EU.
The Prime Minister tells us the deal works for all our people, whether you voted leave or remain. Yet this is your decision to make, not hers. Parliamentarians from every side of the House of Commons have described the Withdrawal Agreement as the worst of all worlds. A deal that satisfies no one and diminishes our United Kingdom. Whether a pro european or a someone who wishes to see a United Kingdom independent of the EU, this deal is denounced. It is the worst trade deal to be done in modern history. And our parliament has a chance to halt it.
The Prime Minister tells us the deal will put an end to vast annual payments to the EU. Yet the Withdrawal Agreement sets out we will be paying a so-called divorce bill well into the late 2020s. Everyone knows a new trade deal cannot be concluded, from the starting point of the 20 pages of political waffle comprising the Political Declaration, within 2 years. When we ask to extend the transition period to allow the time needed to conclude a future trade negotiation we’ll end up paying at least twice the figure offered now, easily £70 billion. This will be a blind Brexit.
Even after that we will pay more to continue to access important EU wide programmes. We will pay more for less access than we pay now and have now.
The Prime Minister tells us we will be able to spend British taxpayers’ money on our own priorities, like the extra £394 million per week that we are investing in our long-term plan for the NHS. Yet the government, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) and the Bank of England all tells us that Brexit of any form, including the most optimistic assessments of the Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration, will damage our economy. In particular, this deal does very little for our vast services sector. That means fewer taxes paid into government coffers, and less money to spend on public services than we would have had, not more. As the Chancellor confirmed to the Treasury Select Committee this last week, the extra funding promised for the NHS is coming from the Government borrowing even more, on top of the record borrowing they have presided over since 2010. There is no Brexit dividend.
We are in extraordinary times, where our government disagrees with its own policy because it's going to reduce our rights and make us poorer, yet is proposing to do it anyway.
The Prime Minister tells us we will take back control of our laws. Yet the Withdrawal Agreement sets our clearly that the UK will follow all EU laws – including new ones – without a say throughout the transition period. In any trade deal with the EU after that, member states want us to follow strict “level playing field” rules on social rights, the environment, state aid, tax and more. And the Backstop arrangement traps us.
The Prime Minister tells us UK citizens living elsewhere in the EU will have their rights protected. Yet she also insists Freedom of Movement is ending. Ending Free Movement means ending Free Movement for us. We and our children who follow us, will have less rights than we have today. We will not have the right to move between the 27 EU countries unless we can agree that in future talks. This is not a deal that works for young people.
The government has delayed publication its plans for immigration, despite having promised parliament and the public would see them before the meaningful vote this December. Another breach of trust between our political leaders and us as voters and citizens of our country.
The Prime Minister tells us a free trade area will allow goods to flow easily across our borders, yet she has dropped her promise of frictionless trade, so they certainly won’t flow as easily as they do now. The deal misses the prime minister’s goal of frictionless trade and companies will face more checks and paperwork at the border in future. Our critical services sector is offered no advantages or protections.
Should the UK leave the transition arrangements, the political declaration makes it clear every business based in an EU Country will be able to sell its products and services to every country across the European Union without any additional costs from tariffs or having different laws. Every business inside the UK that wants to trade beyond Dover into the EU will be competing against them. Exports create our jobs. A trade deal on even the best terms with the US would be worth just +0.2% additional GDP. Compare that to the 55% of exports we currently send to the EU.
The Prime Minister tells us security co-operation will continue, so we can keep our people safe. Yet even the Home Secretary would not confirm to the parliamentary select committee that the Withdrawal Agreement will make us safer, because it will not. The government’s proposed deal does not include access to crucial security databases used today including the SIS2 and ECRIS criminal databases. Deplorably the government's security assessment assumes we keep that access.
The Prime Minister tells us that outside the EU, we will be able to sign new trade deals with other countries. Yet our future relationship with the EU will be based on a “single customs territory” – essentially a customs union. Signing free trade deals with non-EU countries would be seriously restricted. But we will also lose access to trade deals with 88 countries we already enjoy as EU members. These countries could get backdoor access to our market via the EU without us having access to their markets. The Prime Minister expects us to believe that we can leave the EU and negotiate 750 plus separate treaties in 20 months. It’s never going to happen -every international trade expert says so.
The Prime Minister claims with Brexit settled, we will be able to focus our energies on the many other important issues facing us here at home. Yet she cannot even get the support of her own MPs. This deal does not settle Brexit. All the big questions about the future have been kicked down the road. We’ll be in tough negotiations with the EU for years to come, with political factions warring over what Brexit should look like for a long time yet. There will be no energy or money to focus on these vital issues.
And we are sick of it. You tell me you want to focus on the issues that matter to you, like our NHS, like mental health services, like fair funding for schools and improving education for our children.
The irony of the prime minister’s letter is that she is seeking to appeal to the people over the heads of MPs. She intends to debate with the Leader of the Opposition but refuses to let you have your say on her deal. The proper way to do that is to hold a People’s Vote – giving the public the chance to stay in the EU if they don’t like her deal.
This last week Liberal Democrat MPs helped defeat Theresa May’s Government three times.
MPs decided the Conservative Government was in contempt of Parliament, forcing them to publish the legal advice they've received regarding their Brexit deal, but which they wished to keep hidden from parliament and from us.
It’s time for a better politics, and better people in Parliament.