Thank you for your recent communication on the subject of the UK leaving the European Union. I continue to receive views from all parts of the debate with no cohesive picture or agreement on the preferred outcome.
Due to the vast quantity of communications I am sending another updated response to constituents who contact the office and will post this and any other developments on my website.
Once again this matter has taken an unexpected turn of events with the “meaningful vote” and the debates on 10th and 11th December being halted by the Prime Minister. I had applied to speak on Monday but sadly was unable to do so as the business of the House was changed. Her speech explaining the reason for suspending the debate can be found at
Whether or not I support the deal will depend on any further developments which emerge. They have constantly changed on a daily basis including the unprecedented publication of the full legal advice from the Attorney General which can be seen at
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/exiting-the-eu-publication-of-legal-advice.
I will continue to listen to all points of view on the variety of scenarios and am grateful for the input and feedback from constituents.
However I remain unconvinced that we should hold a second referendum. People who engaged in voting in the original referendum – some voting for the first time – and then accepted the democratic result, will see little point in voting in the future in any elections if the outcome can so easily be sacrificed to those who wish that the UK would remain in the EU.
And if we fail to honour the outcome of the last referendum then, quite frankly, what guarantee do those advocating the so called “Peoples’ Vote “ have that Government would not then ignore the second result in the same way that they are urging Parliament should do with the first result. Notwithstanding the local result in Chesham and Amersham the country voted as a whole to leave the EU. This result needs to be recognised as a democratic outcome from a National vote.
The Prime Minister has now embarked on more discussions with European leaders, particularly on the Irish “backstop” which is unacceptable to a large majority of MPs including myself. And at the time of writing this e mail we do not yet have a timetable for the return of the motion to the floor of the House.
Thank you again for your views.