Tag: Neville Chamberlain

The House of Commons will this week on Tuesday and Wednesday consider whether or not to accept the fundamental amendments made by the House of Lords to the EU withdrawal bill. It may be defeated on the amendment requiring it to “inform Parliament of the steps it has taken to negotiate British participation in a customs union”, but it can live with that, since the amendment does not commit the government actually to remain in the customs union. But the most dangerous amendment, from the government’s point of view, is that proposed by Lord Hailsham, which would require both houses to approve the agreement by 30 November 2018, and to pass an act providing for the implementation of the agreement by 31 January 2019. The amendment would also allow parliament to refuse to accept any agreement. The government’s position is that if the withdrawal agreement is defeated by parliament, then instead of re-negotiation, Britain will exit from the European Union on 29 March 2019 without a deal. The Hailsham amendment, therefore, lights a powder keg that threatens both Britain’s negotiating position with the EU and the survival of the government. But it does draw attention to the fundamental problem facing the government, which is seeking to implement an instruction from the British people in the Brexit referendum to which the majority of MPs and peers are opposed. For the first time in British constitutional history, parliament is passing legislation in which it does not believe. But what has been decided by the people can be undone only by the people. All that parliament can do is to give the people a chance to decide on the deal.