John Baron MP responds to Prime Minister’s Brexit criticism

MP secures Urgent Question on no deal planning

Last night the Prime Minister urged MPs to back the Withdrawal Agreement she negotiated with the EU, blaming MPs for voting to delay Britain’s EU exit date. John Baron MP voted against delaying the Article 50 date in last Thursday’s vote.

Yesterday in the House of Commons, John secured an Urgent Question on no deal Brexit planning. Although John posed the Urgent Question to the Prime Minister, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Exiting the EU, Chris Heaton-Harris MP, responded.

John said,

“The Prime Minister is wrong to say Parliament hasn’t voted for something positive. By a majority of 384 in February 2017, Parliament voted to leave the EU on 29th March, with or without a deal. Parliament has since considered the Prime Minister’s deal, and has twice rejected it. The Prime Minister may not like that, but she should now follow through with the triggering of Article 50 and leave on 29th March.”

“To blame MPs is unfortunate. The remain-dominated No 10 team may not like leaving the EU on no deal/WTO terms, but no deal is better than a bad deal. The Prime Minister should now honour the referendum result, honour Parliament’s decision in triggering Article 50, and honour the General Election manifesto.”

“This is why yesterday I secured an Urgent Question, pressing the Government as to our no deal/WTO preparations for 29th March. We have been assured by Government on numerous occasions that we are ready – the Prime Minister assured me on 12th February that we are indeed prepared. This was confirmed at the Despatch Box yesterday. The Government now needs to proceed.”

Notes to Editors:

• For the full transcript of John’s Urgent Question, please see Hansard online at: http://bit.ly/2HznFFC.