Compliance with the European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019 Debate

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Department: Department for Exiting the European Union

Compliance with the European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019

Ruth George Excerpts
Thursday 26th September 2019

(4 years, 7 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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James Duddridge Portrait James Duddridge
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I thank the hon. Gentleman enormously for allowing me to pay tribute to my successor—[Interruption.] Predecessor, apologies. It is a great disappointment that, while he saw the referendum—I campaigned with him and he was in good health at that point—he has now passed away. Even after we won the vote and we knew he was in ill health, we thought that we would have Brexit before he died. I think that, looking down on us, he will be disappointed that, collectively, the House has not continued in that light and delivered on the referendum result.

Ruth George Portrait Ruth George (High Peak) (Lab)
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Minister, this House and the country would have more confidence in the Government’s will and ability to do a deal within the rapidly reducing timeframe if we had any evidence of that happening. The Prime Minister’s update yesterday contained a lot of criticism of the Opposition but not a single word on the actual progress he had made in negotiations in the past few months. Will the Government bring a statement to the House on their progress and the abundant options that the Prime Minister has claimed there are?

James Duddridge Portrait James Duddridge
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The Prime Minister answered a large number of questions and there was plenty of opportunity when he spoke for more than three and a quarter hours. I suspect that there will be plenty of opportunity to go into more detail on the negotiating strategy over the coming days and weeks.