Tag Archives: wera hobhouse mp

Wera Hobhouse MP

Wera Hobhouse: The road to stopping Brexit

By Wera Hobhouse MP | Thu 6th December 2018 - 4:47 pm

As an MP, do I have to vote for any Brexit that is put in front of me in parliament?

My duty in our representative democracy is to listen to the people and respect their views. It is also to use my own informed judgement of what is the best for my constituents and the country as a whole.

So to the question, my answer is no. If any Brexit brought to parliament is, in my judgement bad for my constituents and my country, I should not vote for it.

The Prime Minister is using a different argument. She says we have to leave the EU even if it bad for the country because the people voted for it. She suggests that the dutiful thing for MPs in light of the 2016 referendum is to vote for something that we believe is bad for this country. On the contrary, we have a duty to do the opposite.

Does this mean we defy the will of the people? No, because British democracy is a representative democracy and not just a direct democracy.

What we MPs cannot do on our own, however, in light of the referendum in 2016, is to choose to stay in the EU. We can legitimately reject any particular Brexit deal in accordance with our judgement but we cannot move from there and cancel Brexit by ourselves. This is the true meaning of the referendum result.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 23 Comments
Advert



Recent Comments

  • User AvatarSean Hagan 19th Feb - 10:11pm
    @Peter Watson If there is “a cunning plan” up Vince’s sleeve, it’s currently very well disguised (perhaps intentionally so). Perhaps there will be “a big...
  • User AvatarMartin 19th Feb - 9:43pm
    There isn’t going to be a second refurendum, either support the PM, or leave with no deal.
  • User AvatarPeter Watson 19th Feb - 9:37pm
    "Vince Cable tweeted yesterday that he was ‘open’ to working with the new group" Given that Vince Cable has long been in talks with a...
  • User AvatarPeter Martin 19th Feb - 9:34pm
    @ Sean, Your assessment of Arnold Kiel's views seems perfectly accurate. I think we all do understand that it is the role of leaders to...
  • User AvatarMichael 1 19th Feb - 9:27pm
    @Peter The "EU" does not exist as such :) ! (And you wondered what all the fuss was about!) It is sovereign countries co-operating together...
  • User AvatarJohn Marriott 19th Feb - 9:09pm
    As the 1983 General Election was the first in which I was really involved, I can speak from personal experience and not rely on statistics....