I have just come from chairing seven hours of Cabinet meetings
focused on finding a route out of the current impasse – one that
will deliver the Brexit the British people voted for, and allow
us to move on and begin bringing our divided country back
together.
I know there are some who are so fed up with delay and endless
arguments that they would like to leave with No Deal next
week.
I have always been clear that we could make a success of No Deal
in the long-term.
But leaving with a deal is the best solution.
So we will need a further extension of Article 50 – one that is
as short as possible and which ends when we pass a deal.
And we need to be clear what such an extension is for – to ensure
we leave in a timely and orderly way.
This debate, this division, cannot drag on much longer.
It is putting Members of Parliament and everyone else under
immense pressure – and it is doing damage to our politics.
Despite the best efforts of MPs, the process that the House of
Commons has tried to lead has not come up with an answer.
So today I am taking action to break the logjam: I am offering to
sit down with the Leader of the Opposition and to try to agree a
plan - that we would both stick to - to ensure that we leave the
European Union and that we do so with a deal.
Any plan would have to agree the
current Withdrawal Agreement – it has already been negotiated
with the 27 other members, and the EU has repeatedly said that it
cannot and will not be reopened.
What we need to focus on is our Future Relationship with the EU.
The ideal outcome of this process would be to agree an approach
on a Future Relationship that delivers on the result of the
Referendum, that both the Leader of the Opposition and I could
put to the House for approval, and which I could then take to
next week’s European Council.
However, if we cannot agree on a single unified approach, then we
would instead agree a number of options for the Future
Relationship that we could put to the House in a series of votes
to determine which course to pursue.
Crucially, the Government stands ready to abide by the decision
of the House.
But to make this process work, the Opposition would need to agree
to this too.
The Government would then bring forward the Withdrawal Agreement
Bill. We would want to agree a timetable for this Bill to ensure
it is passed
before 22nd May so that the
United Kingdom need not take part in European Parliamentary
Elections.
This is a difficult time for everyone.
Passions are running high on all sides of the argument.
But we can and must find the compromises that will deliver what
the British people voted for.
This is a decisive moment in the story of these islands.
And it requires national unity to deliver the national
interest.
