Betty Boothroyd: Britain is in crisis. Stop the Brexit self-indulgence

Betty Boothroyd has called for an end to political self-indulgence over Brexit.

The former Commons Speaker said she could not recall “a comparable crisis of such prolonged intensity and danger to the national interest”.

She gave the 100th speech in a marathon two-day Lords debate on the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill which intends to give the Government sweeping powers to transfer EU rules into British law.

Though the Dewsbury-born peer urged colleagues to use their “entire arsenal of our powers and prerogatives”, she also launched a sideswipe at Tory Ministers and MPs who are undermining Theresa May, the Prime Minister.

“Let us put aside partisan allegiances on this issue,” said Britain’s first female Speaker.

“Nothing less than the nation’s future is now at stake and that is surely more important than veiled threats to the leadership of a divided party and a possible change of government that would start the process all over again. This is no time for self-indulgence.”

Defending the right of the Lords to challenge the Government’s authority, Baroness Boothroyd said: “In my book, parliamentary democracy has always meant that parties that win elections or referendums do not take all the spoils of victory. They may call the tune, but they are not in the divine position of writing every note of the score. In a democracy, winners do not take all. In my experience, reflection and well-considered second thoughts oil the wheels of a liberal state and a free society.

“If Parliament does its job in making this Bill and the legislation that follows in the coming months fit for purpose, I see no reason for a second referendum.”

On the continuing fallout from the June 2016 referendum that saw Britain vote to leave the EU, Baroness Boothroyd, a Remain supporter, observed: “I am all the more bemused now to find that it is the winning side that is blowing a fuse because of the confusion that its victory has created.

“Confusion inside government, in industry and commerce, in the City of London, in the European Union and across the wider world.

“I do not recall a comparable crisis of such prolonged intensity and danger to the national interest and the country’s future as a United Kingdom.”