Local Conservative MPs split in Commons vote on Theresa May’s Brexit withdrawal deal

LOCAL MPs fought on opposite sides of the argument in the House of Commons this week as Theresa May’s Brexit withdrawal deal was crushed by a record 230 votes.

Rebel Conservatives Sir Chris Chope and Julian Lewis both voted with Labour on Tuesday against the Prime Minister’s agreement with the EU, helping to inflict the biggest government defeat in history.

Staying loyal was Sir Desmond Swayne, of New Forest West, who said his growing fear of Brexit being cancelled had led him to support the deal.

Sir Desmond’s move was a turnaround having previously declared it was “difficult to imagine” how he would back it. He has also admitted to voting against Mrs May in the Tory leadership confidence vote in December.

All three local MPs promised to support the government in Labour’s failed no-confidence motion on Wednesday evening – although Dr Lewis told the A&T beforehand that his support was dependent on Brexit being protected from cancellation or a second referendum.

In the withdrawal deal debate, Dr Lewis, of New Forest East, said in the Commons: “Because Brexit should mean Brexit and no deal is better than this bad deal, I shall vote no, no and no.”

Before Labour’s confidence vote on Wednesday, he told the A&T: “The Prime Minister is adamant that the government will not cancel Brexit and that the verdict of the people’s vote held in 2016 shall not be overturned by a further referendum.

“As long as she holds fast to those positions, I am happy to support her in the vote of confidence in parliament.”

Sir Desmond said his change of heart was due to legislative manoeuvres by MPs and the speaker, John Bercow, which he believed now made a no-deal Brexit impossible to get past the Commons. “The facts have changed,” he said.

He denied his reversal was due to fears of the impact of no-deal, which he said might cause “short-term difficulties” – but which University of Sussex research forecasts costing the New Forest 3,400 jobs.

Sir Desmond said: “My fear is not that we are heading for a no-deal as an alternative, but heading for no Brexit at all. Whilst I remain as critical of the deal as I have ever been, it is nevertheless still leaving the EU.

“The fundamental problem is that people voted for Brexit but then voted for a parliament unable to deliver it.

“I am absolutely clear that a second referendum is the worst possible scenario because it will be so divisive and so unpleasant and we would end up with the same result. Even if we did not get the same result, there would be calls for best of three.”

In the Commons Sir Desmond even teased the Prime Minister that it was “tempting” to suspend parliament “to guarantee Brexit”.

He added later: “This deal is better than staying in the European Union. We will be out of the common fisheries policy, out of the common agricultural policy and out of the relentless momentum for political integration.”

Sir Chris Chope, of Christchurch, blamed Mrs May for the chaos but did not think she should resign, despite also having been against her in last year’s Tory leadership vote.

He said: “I think the deal is the worst of all worlds. It does not deliver the Brexit for which people voted, it parts with £39bn without any guarantee of anything in return, and it leaves all the issues of what happens next up in the air.

“Desmond [Swayne] and I have very similar views on this. But he, as a matter of expediency, says you might not get Brexit at all. But if we do not we might get a civil war on our hands, metaphorically speaking.

“I think what should happen next is that preparations for no deal should be intensified and the Prime Minister should make the near inevitability of leaving on 29th March without a deal as smooth as possible.”

The response to the defeat of the withdrawal deal from outside the Commons was a mix of lamenting the continued uncertainty and calls for action to protect trade.

Ross McNally, executive chair of Hampshire Chamber of Commerce, warned that business and government were unprepared for no-deal, on which money was being spent that could otherwise have been used for investment.

He said: “The business communities which the chamber of commerce represents have a diverse range of views on the relationship with the EU, but they do agree on the need to avoid a messy and disorderly Brexit. Getting clarity and precision is vital so firms can better plan for the future.”

Country Land and Business Association president Tim Breitmeyer said: “With Brexit less than three months away we need urgent clarity from the Prime Minister on her next steps and how she plans to deliver a Brexit which provides the opportunities that leaving the EU presents, whilst ensuring no harm to farming, the rural economy and communities across the countryside.

“This must include the free and frictionless trade between the UK and EU, on which many rural businesses depend.”

It also emerged this week that in 1997 Sir Chris and Sir Desmond both voted in the Commons against legislation to set up the Welsh Assembly – despite it having been voted for in a referendum.