On Tuesday 16th and Wednesday 17th January 2018 MPs will once again debate and vote on the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill. It’s time to write to your MP again!
Before Christmas MPs secured a significant victory for Parliamentary democracy and democratic oversight when Amendment 7, which seeks to ensure that Parliament has a meaningful vote on any final Brexit deal, was approved.
That was far from the end of the process though. Tomorrow and on Wednesday MPs will debate and vote on several additional amendments to the Bill in it’s Third Reading, before a final vote on the Bill. After that the Bill will go to the House of Lords, where we expect that it will be debated even more vigorously than in the Commons, and as the Government has no overall majority the House of Lords has more freedom than usual to amend the Bill.
MPs from Labour (including Cambridge MP Daniel Zeichner), the Liberal Democrats, Greens, Plaid Cymru and SNP, are backing amendment NC17 to give Parliament a specific vote on remaining a member of the European Single Market and Customs Union.
We are asking you to contact your MP – there is advice on how to do this on our website and you can find a list of local MPs and their contact information here – and ask them to support this key amendment. In Daniel Zeichner’s case you should thank him for tabling the amendment.
Points you could highlight include:
- Membership of the European Single Market is key to the economic prosperity of the UK, with regulatory harmonisation removing non-tariff barriers to trade that is in most cases more important than eliminating tariffs when goods cross borders.
- Membership of the Single Market is especially important for the service industry, including the Financial Services industry that is vital to the UK economy, with Brexit sparking a fall in UK financial Sector jobs despite the upturn in the global economy.
- The Pharmaceutical sector is another where membership of the Single Market is viewed as crucial, with industry representatives lobbying hard for the UK to keep EU Single Market regulation and remain a member of the European Medicines Agency
- Membership of the EU Customs Union greatly reduces red tape and delays when doing business with our largest market. It is also crucial to maintaining the open, tariff-free and frictionless border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland that is necessary to preserve the still delicate peace secured by the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement in 1998.
Please also ask your MP to back amendment NC3 to ensures that any Brexit deal avoids a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and does not breech the terms of the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement in 1998, and amendment NC11 which forces the Government to publish an impact assessment of either an agreement or ‘no deal’ on the UK economy and the regions before a vote in Parliament, and in the event that Parliament rejects the agreement or the ‘no deal’ option, requires the Government to either revoke Article 50 and halt Brexit or seek an extension to Article 50 to enable further negotiations with the EU to take place.
You can read the full list of amendments, many of them important, on the House of Commons website.
Finally we urge you to ask your MP to vote against the EU Withdrawal Bill itself on its Third Reading. While it seems unlikely that the Bill will be blocked at this stage, though that’s not a reason to not try, a large vote against it will send a clear signal that this is far from over, and that there is still strong resistance to the damage that Brexit is doing to the UK.
With public opinion swinging ever more firmly against Brexit, the case for a final say for Parliament and the people of the UK gets stronger every day!
Please let us know if your MP replies to your email/letter by emailing us at info@cambridgestays.org.uk
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