WOKINGHAM MP Sir John Redwood remains unconvinced that a deal to leave to European Union is good for the nation.
Writing in his blog this morning, Sir John said: “It is a very bad deal for the UK as a whole. It upsets both sides for different reasons but Remain and Leave do agree by a big majority that this Agreement is not the way forward.”
He was making his comments hours after neighbouring MP Theresa May had secured a Brexit date extension from her counterparts in Europe.
Instead of the March 29 date that Mrs May and her Government had been working towards, EU leaders are happy to delay Brexit until May 22 assuming that Parliament agrees to her Withdrawal Agreement: it has already turned it down twice and earlier this week, the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow MP, told the Prime Minister that she couldn’t bring it back again for a third time unless it was substantially changed.
On Wednesday evening, Mrs May made a television address in which she implored MPs to get behind her deal this week.
But Sir John – a firm Eurosceptic – set out his views on the latest Brexit developments.
He said: “The government is proceeding as if there will be a third vote on the Withdrawal Agreement on Monday. They will of course need to persuade the Speaker that something meaningful has changed from the previous version they put to the Commons, which lost by 149 votes.”
He said that Leave and Remain MPs were being told different things by the Government: “The two sides can see that at least one side is not getting the truth. The danger for the government is both sides may choose not to believe the government, knowing it faces different ways.”
And he warned that the Leavers who backed Mrs May in the second vote could change their mind again: “Now the government has revealed its hand to the European Council and has not even asked for a long delay, some of them may switch back to opposing the Agreement as the worry they were told about has not yet materialised.”
Sir John also outlined that the DUP “cannot accept anything which gives different treatment to Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK. They deeply resent the EU attempt to create a new country called UK (NI) which would have different laws and customs arrangements from the rest of the UK.”
He also pointed out that Remain-backing MPs are concerned that “if the UK did sign the Agreement we could end up with a very bad deal not including the features of the EU they most wish to protect”.
And in another blog post, published yesterday, he said: “Mrs May should have asked for a free trade deal tonight and told them she cannot get the Withdrawal Agreement through, given the large defeats, the dislike of the deal by the public and the reluctance of most MPs to change their minds on it.”
