The Island’s MP, Andrew Turner welcomed the announcement yesterday (Wednesday) that there is to be a White Paper published on the Government’s plans for Brexit – following this week’s ruling of the Supreme Court that the Government needed the permission of Parliament to trigger Article 50.
There had been calls from across the Chamber that the Prime Minister’s speech, in which she set out the Government’s aims for the negotiations to leave the EU, should be formalised as a White Paper and given Government time for discussion.
Mr Turner said:
“The Government have made clear that they have accepted the judgement of the Supreme Court and will now present their Brexit plans to Parliament. The White Paper will formalise the points put forward by our Prime Minister in a major speech on 17th January. This was a majority judgement by the Supreme Court, with some judges warning of the danger of an independent judiciary involving themselves in politics – sentiments with which I have some sympathy. However, this is also an important constitutional point, and the Government must accept the judgement handed down by the court. The Government have ‘cleared the decks’ next week so that debate in Parliament can take place on the EU (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill.”
“However, nobody should be in any doubt that this will impede or hold up Brexit. The decision to leave the EU was made on 23rd June last year, not by politicians – but by the biggest popular vote in the UK’s history. Invoking Article 50, (which will start the formal negotiations) is simply a part of the process of leaving. Some people have suggested that is a point of no-return. They seem not to understand that the point of no return was reached when the British people voted to leave the EU.
“I have had many people contact me about this issue, and I can confirm that I will be voting to invoke Article 50 unconditionally and before the end of March.”
