‘A flawed referendum’ Failed Labour leadership hopeful REFUSES to accept Brexit

The Labour MP addressed the Commons as parliamentarians debated the Brexit bill for the second day running.

Not shy of speaking his mind, the MP for Pontypridd made his bleak view on Brexit very clear.

He branded it a “disaster” as he rattled off his views on the future.

Mr Smith said: “I sincerely believe Brexit is going to be a disaster for our country, one that is going to cost us and future generations in lost trade, in lost revenue and in lost opportunities.

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The MP for Pontypridd made his bleak view on Brexit very clear

“I equally believe it is a disaster for us to be dividing the country as we have done on this issue, on our values, on the crucial things we often hold in concept.

“I also think it is deeply destructive for us to have engaged in Brexit and unleashed a catalytic force of, in my view, destructive politics not just in this country but across the West.”

It appeared to be a veiled reference to the election of Donald Trump in America and the rise of right-wing parties in Europe including Germany’s Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) and France's Front National (FN).

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Mr Smith also criticised the news MPs and Lords will get a vote on the final days

The failed candidate for the Labour leadership in 2016, he continued: “It is to my eternal regret that we launched down this route with this parliament in my view not being sufficiently vigilant or diligent as to the risk that we face in this referendum, or the nature of the referendum that we were offering to the country.

“Because I believe that it was a profoundly flawed referendum, flawed in many regards and which I’m sure could many feel right across this house, could have been dramatically improved with greater scrutiny, with greater care.

“Why did we not offer that scrutiny? Because I do not think that many members in this house on either side of the debate seriously thought that the referendum was going to be lost.

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“There was a widespread view that there was a referendum being agreed upon for ideological reasons to solve the culture wars that raged in the Tory party for 30 odd years, and it wasn’t really considered carefully enough.

“But we have an opportunity in this house now to make amends for the mistake that we made, not the people.

"They voted on the terms that we offered them, they voted on the question we offered them, they voted with the information we provided, they voted with the 50 per cent plus one margin we put in statute.

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“We have an opportunity to rectify some of those mistakes, and I feel that we should.

“We run the risk of leaving the people doubly dissatisfied because it is perfectly possible that this house could reject the prospect of us falling out of the European Union on WTO terms because of the cost that will become apparent when we see the extra cost for our production of cars, for chemicals, financial services, all the other things that would see their tariff rise.

“It’s possible we start to see a change in the views of the country in respect of Brexit when those things happen.

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The Labour MP addressed the Commons as parliamentarians debated the Brexit bill for the second day

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I sincerely believe Brexit is going to be a disaster for our country

Owen Smith

“I hope the country does change its mind. I’m not shy about saying that, I feel Brexit is a mistake. I think it will damage the future of our children, it is not in our national interest.

“And although the people have voted for it I think we have a duty to scrutinise the Government’s management of this process to give clarity to the people as to what it’s really going to mean for them, not the projections, not the promises, not the 350 million pound lies that were scrawled on a bus nor some of the so-called threats from project fear but the reality of what Brexit is going to mean in pounds, shilling and pence for my children, for all of our children.”

He earlier expressed his dissatisfaction for not being able to debate the clause he introduced, number 52, which he noted sourly.

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He was the failed candidate for the Labour leadership in 2016

Mr Smith also criticised the news MPs and Lords will get a vote in the final stage, saying it would only be in the “dog days” of the deal, and banded about the figure of £45 billion which he claims the UK would lose if the exit deal goes sour.

He said: “If we end up at that point it will be a disaster for Britain.”

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