This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/nov/14/time-for-parliament-to-take-back-control-of-hamstrung-brexit-negotiations
The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Time for parliament to take back control of hamstrung Brexit negotiations | Time for parliament to take back control of hamstrung Brexit negotiations |
| (2 months later) | |
| Letters | |
| Tue 14 Nov 2017 18.25 GMT | |
| Last modified on Mon 27 Nov 2017 13.46 GMT | |
| Share on Facebook | |
| Share on Twitter | |
| Share via Email | |
| View more sharing options | |
| Share on LinkedIn | |
| Share on Pinterest | |
| Share on Google+ | |
| Share on WhatsApp | |
| Share on Messenger | |
| Close | |
| It is becoming ever more clear that a minority of MPs and their friends in the press (ie the hardline Brexiteers) are bullying the rest of us and taking the country down a disastrous road (Tory rebels not convinced by Brexit U-turn, 14 November). Almost everyone else, whether remainers or soft Brexiteers, can see this, both from common sense and from listening to what is now a vast chorus of expert advice. Given that the prime minister is incapable of acting in a statesmanlike manner, it is up to the majority of the 650 representatives in the House of Commons, to whom we lend our sovereignty, to stop this now. One possibility is an interim technocratic government to deal sensibly with the Brexit negotiations. This is a full-scale national emergency. They must act now. And we must all pressure them to do so.Professor Peter CossMalvern, Worcestershire | It is becoming ever more clear that a minority of MPs and their friends in the press (ie the hardline Brexiteers) are bullying the rest of us and taking the country down a disastrous road (Tory rebels not convinced by Brexit U-turn, 14 November). Almost everyone else, whether remainers or soft Brexiteers, can see this, both from common sense and from listening to what is now a vast chorus of expert advice. Given that the prime minister is incapable of acting in a statesmanlike manner, it is up to the majority of the 650 representatives in the House of Commons, to whom we lend our sovereignty, to stop this now. One possibility is an interim technocratic government to deal sensibly with the Brexit negotiations. This is a full-scale national emergency. They must act now. And we must all pressure them to do so.Professor Peter CossMalvern, Worcestershire |
| • Surely David Davis is wrong in his arrogant assertion that if parliament rejected the final deal, the UK would still leave the EU on 29 March 2019. Parliament is sovereign in this country, not government. It’s not up to government to give power to parliament – MPs have that power already if only they see fit to use it. Such a defeat would represent a major failure of policy, to be followed by a vote of no confidence and a general election. If that election led to the formation of a new government, the article 50 process could be halted and serious negotiations begun, not hamstrung by a voluble and intransigent minority. Or, even better, withdrawal from the whole benighted process.Roy Boffy Sutton Coldfield | • Surely David Davis is wrong in his arrogant assertion that if parliament rejected the final deal, the UK would still leave the EU on 29 March 2019. Parliament is sovereign in this country, not government. It’s not up to government to give power to parliament – MPs have that power already if only they see fit to use it. Such a defeat would represent a major failure of policy, to be followed by a vote of no confidence and a general election. If that election led to the formation of a new government, the article 50 process could be halted and serious negotiations begun, not hamstrung by a voluble and intransigent minority. Or, even better, withdrawal from the whole benighted process.Roy Boffy Sutton Coldfield |
| • Jonathan Freedland is correct in concluding that the vote to leave the EU was motivated by a sense of loss (We’ll never stop Brexit and Trump till we address the anger fuelling both, 11 November). But he fails to recognise just what was being lost, namely the defining characteristic of any sovereign state: the power to make and administer one’s own laws. All other issues, such as immigration, trade and finance, devolve from this core principle. It was this concern that united people of every social class, political loyalty and educational background, producing the largest mandate for any single issue or party in the long history of the nation. After a generation of seeing our sovereignty bartered away for often illusory economic benefits, they’d had enough.Clive AshwinAylsham, Norfolk | • Jonathan Freedland is correct in concluding that the vote to leave the EU was motivated by a sense of loss (We’ll never stop Brexit and Trump till we address the anger fuelling both, 11 November). But he fails to recognise just what was being lost, namely the defining characteristic of any sovereign state: the power to make and administer one’s own laws. All other issues, such as immigration, trade and finance, devolve from this core principle. It was this concern that united people of every social class, political loyalty and educational background, producing the largest mandate for any single issue or party in the long history of the nation. After a generation of seeing our sovereignty bartered away for often illusory economic benefits, they’d had enough.Clive AshwinAylsham, Norfolk |
| • Should my local village cricket club, for instance, wish to make rule changes it would make sense that only members would be qualified to vote, not the whole village. Yet a significant number of the middle-aged and elderly, who largely swung the referendum vote in favour of Brexit will, sooner rather than later, die in far greater numbers than the young, who, by a majority of three to one, according to surveys, wish to stay within the EU. Surely this ensures that in five to 10 years’ time remainers will be living under a regime they did not want yet which was foisted on them by those no longer alive. It makes you wonder if democracy is still alive and kicking in this country.Peter BirdFakenham, Norfolk | • Should my local village cricket club, for instance, wish to make rule changes it would make sense that only members would be qualified to vote, not the whole village. Yet a significant number of the middle-aged and elderly, who largely swung the referendum vote in favour of Brexit will, sooner rather than later, die in far greater numbers than the young, who, by a majority of three to one, according to surveys, wish to stay within the EU. Surely this ensures that in five to 10 years’ time remainers will be living under a regime they did not want yet which was foisted on them by those no longer alive. It makes you wonder if democracy is still alive and kicking in this country.Peter BirdFakenham, Norfolk |
| • First we had serious, and unresolved, challenges to the legitimacy of the leave campaign’s funding; now we have Theresa May’s public acknowledgement of the activities of Russian state agents in hacking electorally related western data and systems and spreading targeted disinformation, and their purpose, to sow discord and destabilise western institutions. Yet still she insists that the view expressed in June last year by 37% of the electorate represents the decisive and unchallengeable will of the British people. Cognitive dissonance or what?Charles BailyBedford | • First we had serious, and unresolved, challenges to the legitimacy of the leave campaign’s funding; now we have Theresa May’s public acknowledgement of the activities of Russian state agents in hacking electorally related western data and systems and spreading targeted disinformation, and their purpose, to sow discord and destabilise western institutions. Yet still she insists that the view expressed in June last year by 37% of the electorate represents the decisive and unchallengeable will of the British people. Cognitive dissonance or what?Charles BailyBedford |
| More letters from today’s Brexit special: | More letters from today’s Brexit special: |
| • Can the Forsdick family and Britain unite after the Brexit saga? | • Can the Forsdick family and Britain unite after the Brexit saga? |
| • Free movement of people raises real concerns | • Free movement of people raises real concerns |
| • Chris Haskins: Let’s have a cabinet of all the Brexiteer talents | • Chris Haskins: Let’s have a cabinet of all the Brexiteer talents |
| • Peaceful coexistence is better than punching above our weight | • Peaceful coexistence is better than punching above our weight |
| • Hold ministers’ feet to the fire over final Brexit deal | • Hold ministers’ feet to the fire over final Brexit deal |
| • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com | • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com |
| Brexit | |
| European Union | |
| Foreign policy | |
| House of Commons | |
| David Davis | |
| Article 50 | |
| letters | |
| Share on Facebook | |
| Share on Twitter | |
| Share via Email | |
| Share on LinkedIn | |
| Share on Pinterest | |
| Share on Google+ | |
| Share on WhatsApp | |
| Share on Messenger | |
| Reuse this content |