Thursday 26 January 2017

The fault is yours, Mr Kinnock.


A procession of MPs on Twitter today, including Helen Goodman and Stephen Kinnock, are outraged that the Article 50 bill has not been give sufficient time for a proper debate. You will have to help me out here because I don't understand this. We were told that the supreme court case was not to overturn the decision to leave the EU. Broadly speaking the issue was whether Mrs May had the right to invoke Article 50 without a parliamentary vote. The court has ruled that she doesn't have that right. Ok then. Let's accept the rule of law and take Ms Miller at her word.

So what is to debate? The decision has been taken, parliament has already backed a motion on the timing so why do we need an extensive bill and what is there to debate? There is nothing that stipulates how Mrs May should invoke Article 50, be it in person or over the phone and though Mrs May very often looks ridiculous there is no dress code for the procedure.

If the intent is to steer the negotiating objectives then you've had seven months for parliament to act. Instead we have seen a procession of Labour MPs unable to adequately define either the single market or the customs union or indeed make an honest or credible case for either.

Opposition has been disingenuous, incoherent, lazy and, worst of all, submissive. Even as a Brexiteer the very last thing I wanted to see was a Tory wet dream Brexit yet the Commons couldn't organise itself even into forcing Mrs May to reveal her plans. Helen Goodman accuses the government of showing contempt for parliament. Tell me Mr Kinnock, is it deserving of anything else?

You had your chance to get rid of Corbyn yet you presented us with Owen Smith. You chose to absent yourselves from the debate and instead had a civil war and fixated on Trident submarines. You're the ones who brought us to this pretty pass. Now suck up the consequences.

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