Open letter to Liz Truss MP: Respect the referendum result
UKIP Councillor John Newton has written to South West Norfolk MP Liz Truss expressing the widespread anger and sense of betrayal in the constituency following the Government's unveiling of the "Brexit deal".
South West Norfolk overwhelmingly voted to leave the EU. As things stand, not only are we not leaving the EU in any meaningful sense, we are in fact handing the EU more power. Although it is just a few short days since the Tories' betrayal of Brexit was announced, dozens of people requested that their name be added in support of this letter.
We would hope that in a representative democracy Ms Truss will represent the views of her constituents in Parliament and vote against this disastrous deal.
The Right Hon. Elizabeth Truss MP
House of Commons,
London,
SW1A 0AA
Dear Ms. Truss,
We feel compelled to write to you regarding the Government’s “Draft Agreement on the Withdrawal of the UK from the European Union”.
This 585 page document represents the biggest betrayal in British history. The electorate gave the government a clear decision to take back control of our affairs from the EU. Instead, Mrs May has contrived to hand the EU more control over the UK. Instead of delivering on the vote to Leave, Mrs May has delivered an agreement that is worse than Remain. Instead of “Canada plus plus” Mrs May has delivered “Remain minus minus”.
It is impossible to overstate just how bad this agreement is. The EU will continue to determine our trade policy, barring us from free global trade. The UK will be forced to comply with all existing EU law, thereby losing any competitive advantage. Huge rafts of UK policy, from state aid to fishing, will remain under EU control. Northern Ireland will be given a different regulatory and customs framework from the rest of the UK, breaking up the UK union and encouraging the Scottish nationalist government to demand the same.
The UK will be forced to accept every new law the EU decides to make for years to come, with no say whatsoever in the making of that law. Article 7 of the agreement explicitly states that the UK will be treated as a Member State, except for decision making. The EU has proved itself to be hostile to UK interests throughout these negotiations and under this deal could pass legislation that is against our best interest and there is nothing we can do about it. No country in the world would sign up to such an arrangement unless they had lost a war.
We must consider these unacceptable conditions as permanent, as the transition can be extended with no end in sight, and the EU has been handed control of when we can leave.
This agreement will cause immense collateral damage to our democracy and to the Conservative Party. Why would anyone vote for anything again knowing that their vote can be ignored in this manner? The Conservative Party manifesto that you were elected on pledged to respect the referendum result, to leave the Single Market and Customs Union. It is clear that none of these promises have been met. This is not the Brexit that two thirds of your constituents voted for. It is not the Brexit the country voted for, but it is more than enough for Conservative voters to sit on their hands on polling day and see Mr Corbyn in Downing Street,
Brexit must mean leaving the EU cleanly, returning to the UK the dignity of being a self-governing nation once more with the freedom to engage with the world on our own terms. This does not mean “crashing out” as the propagandists would have it, but simply trading with the EU as an independent nation on the same WTO terms as most other countries until a mutually beneficial free Trade Agreement can be put in place.
We, the undersigned constituents, would like to know your views on this deal, if you intend to vote for it when it comes before the Commons, and whether you agree with us that leaving the European Union on the existing WTO deal is nothing to be afraid of and is the only option if we wish to respect the referendum result and take back control of our own destiny.
Yours sincerely,
Councillor John Newton
