Bristol let down by MPs’ failure to back Final Say referendum on Brexit

Green Party MEP and Brexit spokesperson, Molly Scott Cato, claimed the people of Bristol have been let down by their Labour MPs who failed to back a significant amendment [1] last night that would have given the people a final say over the EU/UK Brexit deal.

The four Labour MPs, despite voting just minutes earlier [2] on an alternative amendment, failed to vote one way or another on the important amendment ‘Division 86’.

Bristol voted strongly for Remain during the EU referendum and Bristol West had the second highest number of votes calling for a second referendum in the whole country [3]. Only Daniel Zeichner’s (Lab) Cambridge constituency had more support for the referendum and he was one of only 9 Labour MPs who voted for it.

Commenting on the morning after the historic parliamentary vote, Molly said,

‘Bristol is a proudly European city where many of the residents are determined to have a final say on the EU Brexit deal. As we rapidly approach the March 2019 cliff-edge we need to do everything we can to resist the government’s disastrous Brexit policy. We can, and we must, stop Brexit. A second referendum on the issue is one of the few democratically acceptable ways of achieving this.

“Many Labour politicians now see every political issue through the prism of Corbyn’s leadership. But the Brexit issue is so much bigger than the Labour Party and so much bigger than Corbyn. It is deeply disappointing that Corbyn chose to whip his MPs to oppose a Final Say on an issue of such national importance and the people of Bristol West also have a right to ask their MP what role she played in enforcing the whip on this occasion.”

Bristol West’s Labour MP Thangam Debonnaire defended her lack of support for a second referendum previously calling it a “terrible idea” during the General Election [4].  Speaking in Parliament on the issue she has previously argued [5]:

“I believe many, perhaps most, of those people calling for a second referendum – I hope that includes my own constituents – would be satisfied with delegating scrutiny of the detail to their elected Member”

[1] http://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2017-12-20/division/02471747-3FE0-48FF-A59F-8ADE58DD018E/EuropeanUnion(Withdrawal)Bill?outputType=Party

[2] http://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2017-12-20/division/9F1FD5D0-486F-49E1-8E72-FC114045E7A5/EuropeanUnion(Withdrawal)Bill?outputType=Names

[3] http://petitionmap.unboxedconsulting.com/?petition=200004

[4] http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/whats-difference-between-having-labour-80210  

[5] http://www.debbonaire.co.uk/e_petition_about_a_second_eu_referendum