With many 100s of hours spent on the Withdrawal Agreement and leaving the EU and several failed votes prior to the General Election in December, Parliament has now successfully completed the passage of the Withdrawal Bill. On January 23rd 2020 The Withdrawal Bill received Royal Assent and
Mark supports the new withdrawal deal which the Prime Minister has renegotiated with the EU. Ever since the referendum Mark has supported the democratic result in Wyre Forest, who voted strongly to leave, and has voted to deliver the result, from triggering Article 50 to keeping no
August is always a strange time for politics. With the absence of breaking news from Westminster, commentators speculate to an extraordinary extent, blowing minutiae into big, out of context, events.
Brexit, of course, is dominating absolutely all the political media.
Whilst out campaigning for the Remain team during the EU referendum, I was asked a question that has stayed with me to this day. “What”, the audience member of the debate in Kidderminster asked, “do you think is your opponent’s best idea?”
The answer was as blindingly obvious then as it is now.
The chaos doesn’t get any better. With the prospect of the UK facing a hard Brexit on Friday evening, we are no closer to any resolution of the political crisis.
Last night saw the 2nd session of indicative votes - and I set out below the four motions selected by the Speaker and my decisions on how I voted.
Motion C - Customs Union
Voted - Abstain
Result: Ayes 273; Noes 276
This is the second time we have had a chance to vote on this.
The votes last night, seeking some sort of direction of travel, failed to achieve any clarity. But for the purposes of transparency, it might be helpful for people to see how I voted, and why.
Avid followers of Brexit will aware that things aren’t going well. What is remarkable is that each week brings a new and completely unexpected catastrophe. Last Monday week we were looking forward to a relatively benign week.
With the confusion over last might's votes and who was voting for what, I wanted to explain my actions, and importantly, the reasons for them.
To be absolutely clear, despite being a Remain campaigner, I am first and foremost a democrat.
