Parliamentary Scrutiny of Leaving the EU

As a long-standing Brexiteer not wishing to make points, may I take the Secretary of State back t...

No, I do not think so. The right hon. Gentleman asks a serious question. Part of the reasoning is...

I have long heard the right hon. Gentleman voice his support for parliamentary scrutiny. Will he ...

I will come back to some of that later. I will not allow any party to have a veto on the decision...

I find this argument that Parliament somehow wants to thwart the will of the people a complete st...

I am hardly running scared of parliamentary scrutiny. As has already been noted, I have made two ...

Fundamentally, the issue is that although we all want scrutiny, the eyes of the world and of the ...

I hardly think it is ideology—

I do.

I hardly think it is ideology to reflect the will of the British people.

I am grateful to the Secretary of State for giving way a second time. Does he agree with the Ital...

He is right. Nobody involved in this exercise from the other side of the argument has ever pointe...

It would help businesses to have as much clarity as possible on the likely future trading arrange...

I take my hon. Friend’s point. The issue that we must bear in mind, however, is that we can give ...

The hon. Member for Camborne and Redruth (George Eustice) said on “The Politics Show” at lunchtim...

The answer is no. By the way, I think that a half U-turn is a right turn. One of the reasons I ga...

Will the Secretary of State give way?

Not at the moment. Let me just finish this section of my speech before giving way to one of my co...

Are we going to get more than those four short sentences? Are we going to get a plan? That is a s...

The hon. and learned Gentleman can wait until the later part of my speech, when I will give him t...

My constituency has the third highest level of financial sector employment in the UK. Does the ri...

I am afraid that in the immediate aftermath of the vote to leave there was an extraordinary outpo...

I urge the Secretary of State to take a more constructive approach with those who have sincere an...

I started by saying that I was in favour of parliamentary scrutiny; I will widen that out later. ...

May I tempt the right hon. Gentleman to put some flesh on the bones of the immigration issue? Hav...

Let me deal with the first issue that the right hon. Lady raised: the treatment of current EU mig...

I will make some progress and give way again in a moment.

I return to the Opposition’s moti...

The right hon. Gentleman said a moment ago that the great repeal Bill will give us some certainty...

The legislation is judiciable and subject to amendment in this House. It will be entirely subject...

To follow up on the question asked by the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Edgbaston (Ms Stuart)...

I am afraid that that intervention is rather a demonstration of one of the problems that we have ...

The right hon. Gentleman’s non-answer to the reasonable question asked by the right hon. Member f...

There are very many things I could do at this Dispatch Box, but criticising David Cameron is not ...

rose—

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

In a moment—[Interruption.] All right, I will give way to my right hon. Friend.

I am most grateful to my right hon. Friend.

May I nail this lie once and for all? The other...

I will now move on to the question of scrutiny itself.

The House already has plans to put i...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

In a moment.

I also made a commitment in September that this Parliament will be at least as...

Give way?

In a moment—a very Scot Nat way of getting attention.

I made the commitment that Parliament...

I refer back to the question from the right hon. Member for Broxtowe (Anna Soubry), which I do no...

It is astonishing how linear, or black and white, some Members think this is. We have Norway, whi...

The Secretary of State will know that, throughout the country, when this issue was being discusse...

Broadly, the argument about full access and control of our borders is an argument that the Prime ...

Will the Secretary of State give way?

In a moment—I have a lady over here who wants to make an intervention.

Similarly, if someon...

My right hon. Friend is right that negotiations are a fragile process. I welcome his support for ...

I see no reason not to help the Select Committee on that basis; that seems an eminently sensible ...

May I ask the Secretary of State about timing? As I understand it, the Government intend us to ha...

That is why we made plain at the beginning of this process that we would have the great repeal Bi...

The Secretary of State said a moment ago that it would be a mistake for the Government to illustr...

That, frankly, will be within our own control. If you leave the European Union, that gives you co...

The Secretary of State mentions taking back control of fisheries, so is it an area that might be ...

I would not expect that as part of the Brexit process. To take the serious point, we need to disc...

The position or the status quo, as the Secretary of State well knows, is that everything is devol...

This is an area on which we have not talked to the devolved Administration yet. We will do so bef...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

I will give way in a moment.

I want to address the final part of the motion about this Hous...

I welcome the terms of the Government amendment, which seems entirely sensible. Does my right hon...

I am glad to hear my right hon. Friend say that. In truth, scrutiny of our strategic aims is what...

Is this not one of those strange debates in which both sides actually agree with each other—in th...

To be frank, I do. We have been going round in circles, debating whether we are going to have a d...

The right hon. Gentleman mentioned hill farming, the agricultural sector and the fisheries sector...

I think the hon. Gentleman will know that we have already made undertakings in relation to the 20...

Will the Secretary of State give way?

Will the Secretary of State give way?

No, I will not give way.

Let me be clear: the Opposition spokesman said that the British pe...

Will the Secretary of State give way?

No.

The simple truth is that the British Government are setting out to achieve the best pos...

I welcome the new Opposition spokesperson, the hon. and learned Member for Holborn and St Pancras...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I just want to make this point. The Secretary of State told my hon. Friend that this is like buyi...

I know that the hon. Gentleman and his party are resisting the will of the people as expressed ac...

Many of the hon. Gentleman’s own constituents—57% of the people of Northern Ireland, in fact—vote...

I am sure that the farmers and fishermen of Northern Ireland will be as worried and concerned as ...

My hon. Friend raises a very good point. Funding is a significant concern for fishermen, farmers,...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

If you can answer for that act of gross irresponsibility, I will give way.

I am very grateful. The hon. Gentleman has mentioned that his party produced a 600-page dossier a...

That is remarkable. My right hon. Friend the Member for Gordon set up a fiscal commission working...

Order. Mr MacNeil, you are an exceptionally boisterous fellow, and in the course of your boistero...

If the House will forgive me mixing my cultural references, the three Brexiteers and their friend...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I will come to the hon. Gentleman in a moment.

My right hon. Friend the Member for Gordon r...

This intervention will give the Secretary of State the opportunity to consider my hon. Friend’s q...

My right hon. Friend makes a very good point.

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I will—perhaps the right hon. Gentleman will give us an answer.

I apologise for having to intervene to give this answer. The Prime Minister showed very clearly h...

Yet more time at the Dispatch Box for the Secretary of State, but with even less information. We ...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I will make some progress. There is a valuable point that this place has to learn. Democracy in t...

Never heard of it!

My hon. Friend is clearly in need of a better education.

What happens to the environment an...

I chair the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee. The hon. Gentleman is rai...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising those points and for visiting Edinburgh. I encourage him a...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I want to make some progress.

Key questions need to be answered, for example, on the single...

rose—

On that point, I give way to the hon. Gentleman, who has been trying to intervene.

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the Government cannot even be straight on the structural funds...

The hon. Gentleman makes a valid point, and that situation affects universities, businesses and s...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Not at the moment.

That point reminds me that the Institute for Government has said:

...

My hon. Friend will be aware that the financial services sector in Scotland supports 150,000 jobs...

My hon. and learned Friend rightly makes an excellent point on the effect on her constituency. Pr...

The hon. Gentleman mentioned a moment ago that people wanted certainty beyond 2020. Is he aware t...

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on referring to my hon. Friend the Member for Na h-Eileanan an ...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I will not give way yet.

Over the coming little while, much of the debate should be about s...

rose—

rose—

I will not give way at the moment.

That 62% represented the biggest gap between leave and r...

Order. We will begin with a 10-minute limit on Back-Bench speeches, from which a number of hon. a...

Sadly I was not able to attend the Conservative party conference this year, but I followed its pr...

rose—

I will give way only once because we will be very short of time in the debate. Not for the first ...

I assure my right hon. and learned Friend that there are a number of things we want to change pre...

If anybody has an alternative fisheries policy that they have worked out, I look forward to a ful...

The ERM.

Well, that was regarded as a political crisis. I am sure my hon. Friend did not welcome the ERM a...

It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. and learned Member for Rushcliffe (Mr Clarke). I will t...

Does the right hon. Gentleman think that we should be prepared to negotiate away some part of our...

That is a very simplistic question, but on the substance of it, my position would be that we shou...

indicated assent.

Why do I say that? It is because the plan, as the right hon. Member for Wokingham (John Redwood) ...

Does my right hon. Friend think there might be another explanation for the Government’s reluctanc...

That might well be the case. We only need to read the newspapers to see that if debates are not t...

I can give the right hon. Gentleman an absolute, categorical assurance that, as far as I am conce...

rose—

I am going to conclude, because I want others to be able to speak.

That is the point I will...

I must say, in response to the right hon. Member for Doncaster North (Edward Miliband), that ther...

I do not disagree with that, but the hon. Gentleman has skirted over the fact that the manifesto ...

It is clear from the wording I read out that safeguarding British interests in the single market ...

I must disagree with my hon. Friend. I have the manifesto with me, too, because I shall refer to ...

My right hon. Friend has, I think, a slight problem here. I understand from remarks made by Membe...

rose—

rose—

I am not giving way for the moment. I am saying that we cannot both be in the single market and r...

My hon. Friend will doubtless agree with me that over the next three to four years we will get ou...

It does not, because I said implicitly that we would not be able to go into the European economic...

rose—

rose—

I have given way enough for now, and I want to continue with what I have to say. I shall come bac...

No, I am not giving way at this stage.

We are debating whether under the terms of this moti...

The hon. Gentleman has accused Labour Members of being disingenuous and unseemly if we express co...

I am so glad to hear the hon. Gentleman standing up for his constituents so well, which I always ...

Having heard the remarks made by the hon. Member for Stone (Sir William Cash), I am reminded how ...

Will the right hon. Gentleman not accept that the one thing that Brexit means is that we are leav...

As the Secretary of State said earlier, being outside the European Union, like Turkey, Switzerlan...

There seems to be a developing theme that the people who voted to leave were not clear about exac...

Let me answer the hon. Gentleman’s question directly. I personally take the unfashionable view th...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

I shall make some progress, if I may. I want to cite one final precedent, which has not been ment...

Some colleagues have already said that it must be our duty now to try to knit our nation together...

The Secretary of State said something very interesting earlier when he said that he hoped to nego...

I do not recall the Secretary of State saying that at all. He was saying that we could have a bet...

Is it not also incumbent on the Government to be mindful that article 50 was not put into the Lis...

Indeed. This is not a prediction, because I know that a lot of people have lots of good and bad r...

The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right: we have a mutual interest with other European count...

We will behave like all other independent countries of the EU and have lots of collaborations wit...

After the next speaker, the time limit will drop to six minutes.

3.33 pm

I say gently to the right hon. Member for Wokingham (John Redwood) that, listening to what he jus...

The right hon. Friend said that the late Baroness Thatcher was a fan of the single market. He sho...

I think the House is grateful for that history lesson. I hope the right hon. Gentleman will forgi...

The Secretary of State said that he wanted to minimise uncertainty. He must reflect on that and g...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that point. I shall come on to address it in a moment.

...

rose—

I will not take any more interventions, because there are many other colleagues who wish to speak...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way for just a minute?

I think that I have run out of my minutes, so I hope that the right hon. Lady will forgive me if ...

Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that there is a very grave danger when we talk about immigrat...

The right hon. Lady is absolutely right and brings me neatly to the point that I was about to mak...

It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Leeds Central (Hilary Benn), who will, I sus...

Does my right hon. Friend accept that it is impossible for us to repeal the 1972 Act on the one h...

I thank my hon. Friend very much indeed for that intervention. The European Communities Act 1972 ...

It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Loughborough (Nicky Morgan), who gave a powe...

My hon. Friend makes an important point. She, like me, represents a midlands constituency, and th...

I agree entirely. Jaguar Land Rover is also a very important company in my constituency. Those co...

I start by saying that I wholly endorse and support the wise words of my right hon. and learned F...

I agree with many of the things my right hon. Friend has said about immigration, but did she not ...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and I accept what he says, but let me say here and now that w...

I agree with a lot of what the right hon. Lady has said, and I made the same arguments to people ...

I am not going to demur from what the hon. Lady says.

What all this really proves is the ab...

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

I cannot. I am so sorry.

I also want to say this, because it is really important. We talk a...

Unlike some of the fantasists and ideologues on the Government Benches who believe that Brexit is...

A good clue to what might happen to trade union rights or industrial rights after Brexit can be s...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right.

Now, as in the 1980s, some of the leading Brexiteers ar...

I want to return to the topic under debate, which is how this House will scrutinise the Brexit pr...

The hon. Gentleman and I are in rather similar positions. The Rhondda voted to leave, but I suppo...

The hon. Gentleman should check the record. Unfortunately, North East Somerset was not counted se...

Business certainty.

The voice of Scunthorpe speaks and rightly calls from a height for business certainty. Business w...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for North East Somerset (Mr Rees-Mogg), his mellifluou...

The hon. Lady is reading out an admirable list. There is also another fantasy that is peddled on ...

I am afraid I agree with the hon. Gentleman’s analysis. He is right to make that point.

We ...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Wallasey (Ms Eagle), who has grasped and conveyed ...

Between the date of the referendum and the start of the Conservative party conference, not a lot ...

I am glad. I have heard the mantra repeated again and again: despite having voted to remain, Memb...

She is entitled to her view.

Of course she is entitled to her view, but when that mask slipped, it was cheered on the other si...

The attempt by the right hon. Gentleman and others to shut down questioning of the Government’s i...

Order. I am afraid that the limit on Back-Bench speeches has to be reduced to four minutes with i...

Mr Speaker, I just hope that you did not reduce the time limit simply because you saw me standing...

This afternoon has shown that there are still some very sore feelings on both sides of the argume...

Does my right hon. Friend agree that we need to clarify the situation for those who might want to...

My hon. Friend is right that overcoming uncertainty must be a priority, but if I had to choose wh...

It has struck me often during this debate, Mr Speaker, that you are chairing a group therapy sess...

I have often thought about the lessons we in the Scottish National party can learn from this refe...

This has been an impassioned debate, with a great deal of hyperbole at times on both sides, but w...

It is a delight to follow the right hon. Member for Basingstoke (Mrs Miller) Like her, I was a re...

I very much agree with the points that my hon. Friend is making. Is it not also the case that man...

That is an extremely good point. It is often Europe that enables people to think of opportunities...

The hon. Gentleman is widely acknowledged as a capable historian, so he will know that treaties, ...

That is completely wrong, I am afraid. The hon. Gentleman, too, is an historian, and doubtless an...

Mr Speaker, I apologise for the fact that my duties as Chair of the Intelligence and Security Com...

Like many other Members, I am profoundly worried about the lack of clarity from the Government. E...

First, I acknowledge the result and accept that its consequence is that Britain will leave the Eu...

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the way in which we deal with the single market is fundamental...

Absolutely right. I have talked many times in this Chamber about the importance of free movement ...

I very much agree with what the hon. Member for Stroud (Neil Carmichael) has just said about the ...

It is a great honour to follow the right hon. Member for East Ham (Stephen Timms), who, as usual,...

I rise to speak in defence of free movement of people and to ask the Government why they are so r...

Parliament must have a role, whether through Select Committees or in the Chamber, in the general ...

There have been many passionate speeches about Parliament’s role in holding the Government to acc...

I am one of those Members of Parliament who campaigned for a remain vote, but who has a constitue...

There can be no other issue in this country’s modern history that demands more serious scrutiny, ...

Like other colleagues, I speak as someone who fought to remain, but who accepts the result. On Te...

I welcome the debate. I agree with my right hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton South East (...

When we debated the Bill that is now the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016, Brexit was not listed ...

I am a passionate pro-European, and I campaigned very hard for the remain cause. In common with t...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

No, I am not taking interventions.

The reaction of business, higher education and the marke...

Brexit might mean Brexit, but what does it really mean? It means a different thing to everyone—li...

What a great ending.

Like my colleagues, I was unambiguously in favour of Britain staying i...

I am very pleased to have this opportunity to speak in favour of the motion on the parliamentary ...

First, I am pleased that the Government have acknowledged in their amendment that they have a neg...

It is a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Bootle (Peter Dowd). My parents hail fro...

The EU referendum laid bare two truths about British society. First, we are a divided country wit...

Much has been said about the extent of the economic impact of leaving the EU, as well as the soci...

For the avoidance of doubt, we intend to accept the Government’s amendment. Today’s debate has be...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

No, I will not.

Parliament has a duty to ensure that the various final options are consider...

May I join the hon. Member for Brent North (Barry Gardiner) in congratulating all Members who con...

Will the Minister give way?

I will not because I have very little time.

The referendum held on 23 June was one of the b...

Will the Minister give way?

Will the Minister give way?

Will the Minister give way?

I will not give way.

I have no doubt that the Bill will be subject to rigorous scrutiny by ...

Will the Minister give way?

I will not give way.

Nobody sensible would expect us to do so, least of all those with whom...

I will put to the right hon. Gentleman the question I put to the Secretary of State. If he believ...

The House will of course be fully engaged as matters progress, but I have to repeat to the hon. G...

rose—

I will not give way further.

But that process should also respect the decision of the Briti...