We live in a representative democracy.  Back in 2015 Parliament voted overwhelmingly, with support across the House, to hold a national referendum on our membership of the European Union.  Parliament subsequently voted overwhelmingly to trigger “Article 50” (the process by which we leave). 

The Queen’s Speech

Before the European Referendum I pledged to respect the decision to be made by the British people regarding our 40 year membership of the EU.

I recently met constituents who are keen to see a second referendum Europe.  Although I disagree I was very happy to exchange views and replied as below to various points raised in the meeting and subsequently:

Another rather fraught day in the Commons yesterday.

In a series of votes:

Indicative Votes were Defeated by 310 votes to 310 votes (see below) [I opposed]

Last night the Commons rejected all five proposals put to it:

Committing on exit to join the European Union Commons Union received 273 votes.

Committing to join the Customs Union and the Single Market received 261 votes.

A second referendum received 280 votes.

Thank you for writing to me on the subject of Brexit.

I am grateful for all the correspondence I receive and since my first election in 2015 I have prided myself in replying personally to constituents.

I am deeply upset that having voted yesterday for the third time to deliver Britain’s exit from the European Union, that decision has again been blocked.

The Brexit saga continues.  Rather than supporting an agreement that has been negotiated with the EU and is deliverable the Commons has voted to run its own process.  There is no guarantee that this will result in an alternative proposition that has consensus support, nor that that this would the

Last week there were important Parliamentary Divisions on Brexit and I wanted to update you on how I voted.