Andy Slaughter MP: doing the right thing

In the latest excellent edition of The New European (read online, or - better still - subscribe!), there was an article about 'the 25 MPs sitting on Brexit's faultline' who had not yet stuck their necks out in the forthcoming Commons vote on Article 50. I had already noted that our superlative local MP Andy Slaughter, the very model of a tireless worker for his constituency, was not on the list of Labour rebels; I wrote to him. I first got a 'wait and see' reply, but then, two days ago, the following.

As it is a public declaration, I'm sure it is fine to quote in full (I did ask, but no reply yet, and today's the day). His responses are always nuanced. And let's hope more folk on both the Labour and Conservative sides follow suit. I'm not that hopeful, but a united Europe is our only refuge at the moment as an open book, not a fortress, and I trust May's recent ill-timed opportunism will have left her rather more isolated.

Dear Mr Nice,

RE: Why I am voting against triggering Article 50 in the House of Commons

Thank you for your e-mail regarding the upcoming vote in Parliament on triggering Article 50.

I am a passionate pro-European, who worked hard for the Remain campaign last summer and still believes our prosperity, security, culture and values will be strengthened by close relations with the rest of Europe, including through membership of the EU.

70% of the voters of Hammersmith voted to Remain.  I have always thought my first loyalty is to my constituents and thousands have lobbied me to vote against the trigger.  I also represent – though they could not vote in the Referendum or General Election – the 15% of Hammersmith residents who are citizens of other EU states and who are being shamefully held as ransom by Theresa May’s Government.

The Referendum result was close – we should not ignore the 48% who voted Remain any more than the 52% who voted to Leave.  Just as Governments – and MPs – represent everyone, not just those who voted them in, so we should now be trying to find a way forward that (almost) everyone can live with.

But none of these is the reason I will be voting against triggering Article 50.

Yes, the Referendum was a deeply flawed process with a narrow victory for one side, whose promises – most infamously the £350 million a week for the NHS – were abandoned as soon as the result came in. But no election is perfect, and issues of misrepresentation, turnout and size of mandate are often prayed in aid by the losing side.

The Supreme Court was right to give the decision on starting the exit process to Parliament rather than let Theresa May – herself unelected as PM – use medieval prerogative powers to make herself the sole arbiter.  But Parliament must have primary regard to the result of the referendum, the purpose of which was to express the view of the British people on our membership of the EU.

What has convinced me to vote against the trigger was the decision by Theresa May in her speech two weeks ago, repeated and expanded on since, that this would be not only the first but the final chance to influence not just whether but on what terms the UK left the EU.

I raised this issue with Theresa May at PMQs last week and her answer made it clear that she was not interested in consulting either Parliament or the British people on the final Brexit deal.

We are being asked to accept whatever deal Theresa May negotiates, with no alternative – except no deal at all.  We cannot say, sorry that is a terrible deal, go back and try again.  Or, as a final step, if she really is incapable of safeguarding our future, putting the decision on whether to go through with Brexit back to the electorate.

This is not about re-running the Referendum of last June, it is about giving Parliament or the people a say in the future of the country.  It is the least we deserve.  Anything else is not just arrogant it is fundamentally undemocratic.

Forces on the right of politics, in the Conservative Party as well as UKIP and the far right, have long dreamed of rolling back the welfare state, employment rights and even the NHS. They also have a barely disguised distaste for the inclusive, tolerant and diverse society that places like Hammersmith and Shepherds Bush, indeed most of London, represent. 

These are not easy decisions and the arguments do not all run one way.  When we debate the amendments to the Government’s plans next week I will support those that give a real choice at the end of the process and I will make my decision on future votes depending on any concessions the Government makes.  Sadly, as I write, Theresa May looks like she has surrendered to Farage just as she shamefully did to Trump on the refugee ban.

Yours sincerely, 

Andy Slaughter

Labour MP for Hammersmith

Deepest shame and disgust

...on/at the 294 MPs who voted against our accepting 3,000 frightened, unaccompanied and endangered refugee children into the UK*. Whatever the arguments - 'we're doing enough to help them where they are' (still leaving them prey to traffickers), 'this sets dangerous precedents' - it's morally wrong. The list of 294, named and shamed here, needs to be posted everywhere with mugshots attached - there is more than one kind of criminality. It might also be worth finding out how many are the children or descendents of refugees: the majority, I'd imagine.

This man, Sir Nicholas Winton, honoured with a statue here in Prague (there's also one at Liverpool Street Station), would be turning in his grave.

We don't need to go back to World War II - Belgian refugee children in the UK pictured up top - for precedents (our dear friend Edward Mendelson, by the way, was on the last of the Kindertransports from Vienna which also brought the current heroic - and so far rejected - proponent of compassion, Alf Dubs, saved - as it later turned out - by Winton, who became a friend). These are Bulgarian refugee children in 1914.

And so back into history. I wish Dickens were alive today to write a savage invective.

Can't we take a leaf out of Lebanon's book? It has more refugees than it can reasonably cope with, but education programmes for Syrian children are now strong. Gordon and Sarah Brown have been doing an admirable job to ensure more funding flows for the right to school.

The moral bankruptcy currently rife in this country, or at least among its so-called leaders, seems to be coming to a head. All you have to say is 'Theresa May wants us to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights' and you know what's wrong with that. Though this film starring Patrick Stewart, with acknowledgments to Monty Python, is a good way to respond. Do watch through to the end, which had me rolling about with laughter. Doesn't seem embeddable as yet, so click on the link above to watch.

You don't need to make a parody of Jeremy Hunt (not the brightest button in the box, as this article by a former employee makes all too clear) vs junior doctors - it's way beyond satire already**, though the outcome is already looking tragic. Excellent clarity - from the medics' perspective - here. Everyone needs to know that senior doctors are to hand to make sure emergencies are handled during the current strike, so don't believe the scare stories.

What horrible people we have in power. But I know this isn't true of the UK population as a whole - unless support for Brexit proves me wrong, in which case it will just be dangerous ignorance of the facts, which IS a problem here. Let's just hope Obama, the greatest AND most lovable statesman I've ever known in my lifetime, has had the desired effect. While he was here, he went to the Globe, too, on Shakespeare's birthday, happily coinciding with the grand finale of the company's amazing Hamlet world tour. Hope this picture is 'fair use' territory.

I wish it were simple for people to decide when faced with the equation 'Obama wants us to stay in Europe; Putin, Trump and Marine Le Pen want us out'. That and the pitiful roster of damaged human beings leading, if you can use the word, the Brexit campaign, should be enough to show folk what's going on.

Incidentally, when I last looked at the Patrick Stewart film, up popped an ad: 'Canadian immigration: do you qualify?' I hope I do if it's out of the EU for the UK: already having thoughts about moving to the diplo-mate's homeland, Ireland or, when it detaches, Scotland

Rant over.

PS - but let that wonderful artist Wolfgang Tillmans, one of the 12-Star Gallery's finest exhibitors, do more of the addressing in a sequence of sparely-designed messages. They can all be found here - my thanks to Graham Rickson for e-mailing the link - but this one is especially good. The main message (albeit in small print here): register to vote before 7 June

*Yet there is one notable exception among the Conservatives - Stephen Phillips QC MP, whose speech here should be the rule rather than the exception.

**Though Frankie Boyle can always go one better, and just has in The Guardian.