Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2016-07-05-Speech-2-055-000"
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"en.20160705.3.2-055-000"2
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"Mr President, we have heard a number of voices in this debate from British people who were pleased, indeed triumphant, that Britain is leaving the European Union. Allow me to speak as one of the 48% who voted to remain, who regret this decision and who will be sad if Britain leaves this Union that we have helped to build over many years.
A referendum is normally called to settle an issue, but Britain at the moment does not seem to me to be calm and settled. It is in political turmoil. There are economic problems, with the pound falling and the AAA rating lost. Huge questions are being asked about what comes next. There are even people – perhaps surprisingly – challenging the result of this referendum. There is a petition to Parliament, started by a Leave supporter, which has had over 4 million signatures asking Parliament not to trigger Article 50. There are demonstrations. There is the Scottish Government saying that this decision should not necessarily apply to all the countries of Britain. Why do you think there are challenges to the result of a democratic referendum?
Well, partly because Nigel Farage himself said that 52% to 48% settles nothing. Of course, when he said it he thought the result would be the other way around. People now are perhaps beginning to take him at his word. Others are just shocked at the number of Leave lies that were told in the referendum campaign, the number of issues where those wishing to leave simply told, and repeated, blatant lies. Finally, there are what I would call the Remain truths – the warnings about the consequences of leaving, which were rubbished as being scare tactics.
However, the reality is beginning to show, with companies leaving Britain, what has happened to the pound and what has happened to the economy, and in these circumstances it is not surprising that many people wish to reconsider – those who voted to leave, crucially.
Above all, there is one point that is much more important. Why has the Government not triggered Article 50? Because it cannot. There is no agreed position in Britain on what it should seek as an alternative. The Leave side offered two completely different visions.
One group said ‘Let us stay in the single market’ (we heard that just now): ‘of course there will be no problem; they will let us trade with the single market.’ But then you have to follow the common rules for the common market (on which you would have no say anymore, by the way), including the principle of free movement, which is exactly what they were urging people to vote against.
Others in the Leave campaign said ‘No, no: leave the European market. We will go global.’ But then you face a tariff barrier on every British good sold in the single market. So when the Government, or the future Prime Minister, comes off the fence and chooses one of those two options, there will be people in Britain, who voted to leave, who will say ‘Hang on a minute: that is not what we were told, that is not what we voted for.’ And I will not be surprised at all if you see Leave supporters asking for a rethink. This issue is not as settled as it might appear to be at first sight."@en1
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