Parliamentary oversight of negotiations

Part of Informal European Council – in the House of Commons at 7:15 pm on 6 February 2017.

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Photo of Will Quince Will Quince Conservative, Colchester 7:15, 6 February 2017

It is a pleasure to follow Mr Carmichael, although he might not entirely share the sentiment once I have finished my contribution. I promise that it will be a short contribution, in the interests of time and the number of Members who wish to have their say. I rise to speak against in particular new clauses 56 and 134.

There are some in the House who have said that the referendum result should not be respected because the people did not know what they were voting for. They are determined to find confusion where none exists. They say that the public voted to leave the European Union, but not the single market or the customs union. Members are arguing through these amendments that we in this House need to debate whether or not we leave the single market. I disagree.

The majority of voters who took part in the referendum said that they wanted to leave the European Union. Many of those who contacted me said that they wanted to | restore our parliamentary sovereignty and sovereignty over our courts, to regain control over our immigration policy, and to strike out in the world and forge new deals with countries across the globe. Those aims are incompatible with remaining in the single market or in the customs union.

We chose to go to the people with this referendum. I did not campaign for either side in the referendum, but I followed the two campaigns closely. Throughout the referendum campaign, those involved in the leave campaign said that we would be leaving the single market. On the remain side, our former Prime Minister David Cameron said during the campaign that, in the event of a vote to leave:

“What the British public will be voting for is to leave the EU and leave the single market.”