Blog InFacts, 03.10.2019 David H.A. Hannay, miembro de la Cámara de los Lores y ex embajador británico (UE-ONU)
The Prime Minister tells us that incalculable damage will be done to our democracy if we do not leave the EU, with or without a deal, by October 31. This from a man who, over the last three years has inflicted a good deal of damage to our democracy.
- Narrowly winning a referendum in 2016 on the back of a campaign full of lies.
- Destroying his predecessor as Prime Minister’s attempt to deliver on the referendum in order to grab her job.
- Junking the Irish backstop on the grounds it was undemocratic when its purpose was to ensure that the provisions in the Good Friday Agreement, enshrined in our own statute law, were properly applied following Brexit.
- Unlawfully (and unsuccessfully) trying to prevent Parliament from sitting at a critical stage in the Brexit negotiations.
- Openly preparing now to flout the Benn Act which would require him to ask the EU to delay Brexit if he cannot get a deal.
Hardly a sound basis from which to preach about respect for democracy.
And then there is Boris Johnson’s claim that Brexit can be done and dusted by October 31. He really must be joking if he believes that.
Complex changes to the earlier agreement to be negotiated with the EU; the new agreement to be approved by the European Parliament; not only the agreement itself to be approved by our own Parliament but also all the changes to our domestic law needed before we can ratify to be agreed. But in all probability he does not really believe that can all be done in that time and is counting on leaving without a deal.
This is a deeply flawed prospectus to have put to his party and one that lacks any credibility. They may have cheered him to the rafters but, as a previous Prime Minister said in a different era: “Today they may be ringing the bells but soon they will be wringing their hands.”
