Wyre Forest Labour is very concerned about the threat to our Parliamentary Democracy, and the fact that Brexit it being used as a pretext to implement a Bill that effectively bypasses Parliament’s voice in our lawmaking and hands over that power to a Ministerial cabal.

Stephen Brown said “whether you voted Brexit or Remain, there are elements of this Bill that should seriously worry you. It threatens the foundation of our Parliamentary democracy and it’s why Labour opposed it. Brexiteers’ promised Parliament ‘would take back control’ from the EU, yet the first act of this minority Tory Government is a power grab to give Ministers absolute authority over changes in the law without Parliament getting a say. It’s brutally ironic as it’s the very thing Brexiteers complained about the EU having. These changes could erode your rights as a citizen or a worker without any proper scrutiny or Parliamentary challenge”.

“The lack of any critical thinking on this from many Tory MP’s, who voted like loyal lapdogs, is astounding. Exponents of the Bill will try and dress it up as an innocuous change to implement Brexit, and will do so because they fail to understand the consequences. They essentially voted to surrender their role as an MP and one wonders why they bothered standing for Parliament at all if that’s the case, because it appears they have no opinion on it of their own. They also seem unaware or unconcerned with other events linked to this that are handing control of Parliamentary committee processes to the Tories outside of accepted protocols. It’s something Tory Brexit negotiators could seize on to do trade deals that are disadvantageous to our country and our citizens. People really need to wake up to what’s going on here”.

It seems many serious political commentators are drawing references to a Bill passed in the Reichstag in Germany in 1933, by supporters of the Nazis, which ultimately handed control to Hitler. That may appear a little over the top but let’s not forget the Govt bribed the DUP with £1billion to prop them up, and that has now been used to break with Parliamentary consensus to put the Minority Tory Govt in control of what should be politically balanced committees. These committees also scrutinise Parliamentary process. As if to add to the feeling of an orchestrated Coup d’état, Crawford Falconer, the Government’s chief Brexit trade negotiator, believes he should be free to negotiate new deals and have the power to change regulations at will if it seals a deal.

Stephen Brown summed up by saying “People should be joining all these dots, spotting the patterns, and objecting to their MP about what all of this means for our democracy. If taking back control really means what it says, let’s see some evidence of this and our MP’s respecting the will of the people, respecting Parliamentary democracy, and not turning the country into what potentially could be a banana republic when it comes to our law making. Labour will fight tooth and nail to protect your rights as both a citizen and worker, and I can’t see the Tories doing that during Brexit or beyond. Basically, because the Tories serve the agenda of a rich elite intent on making Brexit work for them and stripping us of our rights in a deregulated economy as a European offshore tax haven”.

Brexit: Parliament will be sidelined by Government for 40 years if Theresa May’s withdrawal bill is passed.