Since the result of the referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU was announced, I have received a substantial number of e-mails from constituents about the online petition calling for a second referendum, and/or asking me to block the process of the UK’s exit when it eventually comes before the House of Commons for a vote. I am pleased to have this opportunity to set out my current thinking on this issue.
I worked very hard to secure a ‘Remain’ a vote in the days, weeks and months leading up to 23rd June, because I believe our membership of the European Union is clearly in the best interests of Newcastle and the North East. Whilst Newcastle voted (by an extremely narrow margin) to remain – I am absolutely devastated by last month’s overall result, following what was at times an extremely unsavoury, unpleasant and divisive campaign.
I am equally angry at the clear failure of either the Government, or the Vote Leave campaign, to have formulated any sort of plan in anticipation of a Brexit vote – resulting in the damaging position in which the country now finds itself. Indeed, the question I put to the Prime Minister last week about just some of the impact of leaving the EU highlights just how bad this could be for the region, but how little information we actually have – and continue to have – about what it means.
Of course, we have also seen an appalling increase in hate crimes on the grounds of race, nationality or religion since the result, which is extremely disturbing and I have made my views on this publicly clear (see here, and here, for example) – as well as contacting the Home Secretary on this issue.
I therefore fully appreciate many people’s distress at the referendum outcome and the events which have taken place since then, and I am acutely aware that several of the pledges being made by the Vote Leave campaign now appear to have disappeared into thin air, with people feeling rightly angry that such a momentous decision for our country has been taken following what was a frankly duplicitous campaign.
However, I am equally conscious that I am yet to be contacted by a single constituent informing me they voted to leave and now regret that decision – and it is always dangerous to make assumptions about the reasons behind someone’s vote. Considerably more people voted in this referendum than in last year’s General Election, and to dismiss the ‘leave’ votes as somehow being less meaningful than those who voted to remain would, I believe, be unhelpful in encouraging future engagement with the democratic process.
As a member of the House of Commons Petitions Committee (which considers all online petitions on the https://petition.parliament.uk website that achieve over 100,000 signatures), we have already discussed scheduling a Parliamentary debate on the ‘second referendum’ petition (which now has over 4million signatures) – and I very much look forward to participating in that debate (the outcome of which will be entirely non-binding on the Government), and sharing the very clear concerns of constituents who have contacted me on this issue.
But, given that the Prime Minister last week reiterated his position that a second referendum will not be held, my absolute focus now is on securing the best possible outcome from this devastating result, for Newcastle, the North East and the rest of the UK, whilst seeking to bring together communities that have been divided by this process.
I also of course await the outcome of the final agreement reached by the Government with the EU determining the terms of our exit, before reaching a conclusion on how I vote – clearly bearing in mind the views of my constituents, the view expressed last month by the people of Newcastle and of course what I believe to be in our city and country’s best interests – with proper scrutiny and a vote in Parliament on this process being absolutely imperative.