MPs deserve credit for standing up to Boris Johnson’s attempt to rush through Brexit - Yorkshire Post Letters

The Prime Minister’s latest attempt to ram through his dodgy Brexit deal without proper Parliamentary scrutiny has failed yet again – and we should all be grateful to the majority of MPs for doing their job by holding the Government to account and refusing to back his timetable.

People’s Vote and why I want to be a citizen of a united Europe rather than a dead empire post-Brexit – Yorkshire Post Letters

Johnson and Cummings have coined the slogan “Let’s get Brexit done” because they know that – very understandably – people are fed up with the seemingly endless wrangling, bitterness and division.

They pretend that “getting Brexit done” will allow us to draw a line and get on with other more important things.

But they know perfectly well that wouldn’t happen. If this reckless and ill-considered deal were pushed through, that would be just the beginning of years and years more arguing, divisiveness and recrimination.

Johnson’s cobbled-together Withdrawal Deal would hasten the break-up of the UK by treating Northern Ireland differently from the rest of the country. It would not resolve the future status of EU citizens in the UK, workers’ rights or minimum environmental standards – or the very complicated issues surrounding our future trading relationship with the EU27.

This will likely take years and on November 1 the EU gets a tough new trade commissioner, Phil Hogan, who is unlikely to make things easy for the British.

Then there is the fraught question of how we would negotiate new deals with other countries to replace the many favourable free trade deals we enjoy with other countries by virtue of our EU membership.

MPs are part of the problem over Brexit and they need to be part of the solution - Philip Norton

This would mean more years of ministers and civil servants being forced to spend time and effort trying to cope with the fallout from Brexit – rather than dealing with the issues that really matter to all of us like our economy, jobs, the NHS, public services and law and order.

The million plus people marching in London from across Yorkshire and all over the UK were just the tip of the iceberg – opinion polls are consistently showing that most people back Remain now they understand better the implications of suddenly cutting ties built up over 40 years with our closest trading partners.

The only way to resolve this and start healing the festering sore of Brexit is to have a Peoples’ Vote.