John Baron MP presses Prime Minister and Parliament over ‘no deal’

MP will vote against ruling out ‘no deal’

Today in the House of Commons, John Baron MP asked the first question at Prime Minister’s Questions. Last night, John voted against the Withdrawal Agreement because the Attorney General’s legal advice on the potentially indefinite nature of the backstop remained unchanged.

In the Chamber, John asked,

“Many of us recognise the Prime Minister’s efforts to secure a deal, but given we profitably trade with the majority of the world’s GDP outside the EU on mostly WTO/no deal terms, has the time not come to look beyond this remain-dominated Westminster bubble and for us all to recognise that the default position of our votes to trigger Article 50 is that no deal is better than a bad deal, so that we can honour the referendum result and leave the EU on 29th March?”

The Prime Minister responded that no deal is better than a bad deal, but she hopes to secure a good deal to leave on 29th March.

Afterwards, John said,

“I also hope to leave the EU with a good deal, but ruling out no deal increases the chances of a bad deal because we lose all leverage in the negotiations if the EU knows we can not walk away. I will therefore be voting against ruling out ‘no deal’ this evening, and am reassured by the Prime Minister’s statements at the Despatch Box that we are fully prepared for a no deal exit on 29th March.”