On 24 January, the Supreme Court ruled that the Government must secure Parliamentary approval before invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to set in motion negotiations on leaving the European Union. The Government immediately announced the it would put a short Bill before Parliament. Alistair Lexden gave his reaction to this development in a letter published in the London Evening Standard on 25 January.
It is essential that the legislation enabling the Government to invoke Article 50 goes through both the House of Commons and House of Lords quickly and without amendment.
We now know the Government’s Brexit objectives; the Prime Minister spelled them clearly last week. The Conservative Party has a manifesto commitment to give effect to the wishes of the people expressed in the referendum. We will have much work to do in Parliament as the results of the negotiations emerge.
It will be our constitutional duty to scrutinise them in detail. It may be that, at that stage, we can help the Government to get the best possible terms for the country as a whole. But any attempt to bind theGovernment’s hands in the negotiations themselves would be wholly improper. The Liberal Democrats and others in the Lords who take a different view are making a grave error.
Alistair Lexden
House of Lords