Brexit: Options

Lord Dykes Excerpts

Monday 18th February 2019 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Dykes]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the different options Parliament has in relation to leaving the European Union.

[The Minister of State, Department for Exiting the European Union (Lord Callanan) (Con)]

My Lords, the Motion passed on 29 January in the other place seeking legally binding changes to the Northern Ireland protocol is the only way to deliver a sustainable majority. The Government will continue to pursue this to ensure that we leave with a deal on 29 March. If MPs do not vote for the deal, the default legal position is that the UK will leave without a deal at the end of March.

[Lord Dykes (CB)]

Surely the Government could also do something useful at the moment, such as sending Ministers to urgent anti-self-harm corrective therapy sessions. However, should they not also now promise the House to extend Article 50 and start preparing for a people’s vote as well in case things go wrong on 27 February?

[Lord Callanan]

I can tell the noble Lord that, instead of sending Ministers to self-help therapy sessions, we are sending them to Brussels.