The Sunday Telegraph - 01.09.2019

The Sunday Telegraph Sunday 1 September 2019 *** 19

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1

Letters to the Editor

A

t times in the last three years it

has seemed that Parliament will

do anything but the one thing it

promised. To honour the democratic

vote to leave the EU. Instead of

coalescing behind a deal to get us out,

Parliament has quibbled, prevaricated,

delayed and disappointed. The

Commons has repeatedly said what it

won’t accept but has never accepted

that we are here to serve the people

and respect their decision. The Labour

Party, in particular, have been guilty of

the most spectacular bad faith. They

promised on page 24 of their 2017

election manifesto to honour the

referendum result but then, with some

honourable exceptions, have

consistently voted not to.

The Prime Minister has made clear

that we will, at last, honour the

referendum decision. We will leave

on October 31, deal or no deal. And,

already, that resolution is helping us

secure a solution. EU leaders are now

ready to talk about a different way

forward. As of next week, we will be

in talks with the EU to try to find a

new deal which can command the

confidence of the Commons. The EU

knows that a deal which has failed to

pass the Commons three times cannot

be brought back unamended.

The only possible way forward that

has ever commanded a majority in the

Commons was the principle put

forward by my colleague Sir Graham

Brady – that the central issue with the

Withdrawal Agreement has always

been the backstop. Until now, the EU

has refused to entertain that idea. Now

they are shifting.

Which is why I hope my colleagues

in the House of Commons will give the

Prime Minister the time and space to

pursue that opening and get a deal we

can all support. The best way to leave

with a deal is to back the PM in his

approach which has, at last, got the EU

to move. The aim of Labour, the SNP,

the Liberal Democrats and others is

not to stop a no-deal Brexit but to stop

Brexit altogether.

If Parliament erects a roadblock in

the Prime Minister’s way this week

then the incentive for EU leaders to

move further will be compromised. If

we vote once again for indecision and

indefinite delay, EU leaders will

conclude they can sit tight and wait it

out. The chances of securing changes,

and a deal which can pass the

Commons, will diminish.

Critical to the EU’s movement on a

deal has been our acceleration of

preparations for no deal. They

recognise how serious we are. In a

choice between no deal and no Brexit I

have always said we must be ready for

no deal because we cannot dishonour

the referendum result. And the focus

and energy our new Prime Minister

has brought to securing a deal has also

been applied to preparing more

effectively than before for no deal.

In the last five weeks we have

significantly stepped up our

preparations. We have allocated an

additional £2 billion to help industry

and individuals make the transition.

We have developed the tools which

will enable businesses to trade

efficiently, citizens to travel freely and

new opportunities to be grasped.

Today we launch a public information

campaign, Get Ready for Brexit, to

give everyone the facts they need for

October 31. So whether you are a

small-business owner or EU citizen

residing in the UK – the actions you

need to take to prepare will be clear.

As well as TV and radio advertising,

there will be a straightforward,

step-by-step, checker tool available

on the Government’s website – gov.

uk/brexit – so all of us can identify

As we ratchet up no-deal

planning, the Commons

needs to give our PM space

to negotiate with Brussels

T

here is now a window of opportunity
for the UK government to negotiate a
substantially better deal with the EU:
the period between MPs heading off
to conference and October 18. But
this window has only opened
because the EU now realises that Boris Johnson is
deadly serious about leaving on October 31 as
scheduled, with or without a deal.
Needless to say, there are still many in Europe
who hope that the Government will be swept
away, defeated by its own rebels in the Commons,

just as Theresa May was. Michel Barnier’s
position, revealed today in his article in The
Sunday Telegraph, is that the Northern Ireland
backstop won’t be reopened and that he is “not
optimistic” about avoiding a no-deal scenario. The
implication is that he prefers the latter to

rewriting the treaty he negotiated with Mrs May.
Whether or not this explosive intervention
contradicts the reality on the ground is beside the
point: Mr Barnier is a master negotiator and the
Remainer rebels, who want to believe that no
progress is being made and that there will be a no
deal Brexit unless they act, may well be

galvanised by his article.
But once they’ve finished studying it, they need
to stop and think very carefully indeed.
Despite the bluster, the truth remains that if
rebel Tory MPs vote next week to take control of
the agenda and then legislate to take no-deal off

the table, they are actually destroying the best
shot Britain has at leaving the EU with a deal. It
will also destroy the Government’s reputation.
Under those circumstances, Mr Johnson must see
that he has no choice: no matter
how reluctantly, he has to treat
the vote to open up the order
paper as a confidence issue
among his own Tory MPs.
This would be a dramatic and
high-stakes move, like every
other one he has taken since
becoming PM. It might force an
election in mid-October if the
Government’s majority
disappears and if Mr Johnson
felt that there would be no other
mechanism to deliver on his
pledge to leave on time.
But it’s precisely because rebel Tory MPs would

be effectively voting to cripple their own
Government over the most critical issue of our
time that any Conservative MP who votes for the
procedural motion should have the whip taken
away – that is, just for voting on the procedure,
not days later on the substance. This is a deeply
upsetting course of action, no doubt, but what

other way forward does the Prime Minister have
if he doesn’t want his Government to implode and
be replaced by Mr Corbyn in No 10?
Ideally, parties are broad churches. But this is
no normal time. If Mr Johnson, who has just been
elected by MPs and members, doesn’t impose

extreme discipline this week, he is finished. With
him probably goes the party as well as Brexit,
ushering in a new Left-wing era, with Nigel
Farage as leader of the opposition. Any Tory
Remainer who thinks they can just will away this
reality is deluded.
Either the PM must lead Britain out of the EU on

October 31, with a deal if possible but without if
necessary, or, if his rebels prevent him from doing
so, he will be forced into an immediate election.
Anybody who wants to be a Conservative MP will
then have to stand on a manifesto that explicitly
pledges to leave immediately – if not, Mr Johnson
would have no authority and the Brexit Party will

fatally divide pro-Leave votes.
It is decision time for Mr Johnson, and decision
time for the Tory Remainer rebels.

Commons vote is

a confidence issue

T

he Christian Asia Bibi spent years on death
row in Pakistan on false blasphemy charges;
now she is free, living in Canada. In her first
ever newspaper interview, Ms Bibi describes the
despair she felt behind bars – “My whole life
suffered, my children suffered” – and her
heartbreak at having to leave her homeland. She
asks that “the whole world ... pay attention” to

how blasphemy is policed and prosecuted in
Pakistan. The US State Department calculates that
77 people may currently be in prison on
blasphemy charges, with at least 28 given the
death sentence.
Mrs Bibi rejects reports that she wanted to go to
England for asylum – but we hope she knows that

there was a popular feeling that she ought to have
been offered it. If Britain stands for anything, it
should be the free exercise of conscience and due
process, including for Christians. Too often,
Western politicians are silent about the
persecution of Christianity out of ignorance
or political correctness, and that has to end.

No religious minority should be abandoned to
the lions.

Saving Christians

quickly what we may need to do to

get ready.

For businesses that export to the EU,

there will be guidance on the new

customs procedures to follow. For

those of us travelling abroad with pets,

there will be advice on the steps we

need to take. For UK nationals in the

EU, we are providing pointers to help

them secure their status abroad. And,

of course, for the three million EU

citizens in the UK, whose presence

here is so important, there will be

reassurance about their rights and

status. Our campaign will also help

businesses secure the support, help

with VAT and taxes, and access to

advice and grants they may need.

Leaving the EU, like moving house,

takes work, application, investment

and an adjustment to new

circumstances to get right. But the

reason we move house is to embrace

new opportunities, live the life we

choose and have more control over

our future. The British people voted

three years ago to make the move out

of the EU and into the world. It’s time

now to deliver.

Michael Gove is Chancellor of the Duchy

of Lancaster

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telegraph.co.uk

ESTABLISHED 1961

Parliament must let the PM get on with Brexit

MICHAEL GOVEEL GOVE

READ MORE at

telegraph.co.uk/opinion

‘It is

decision

time for Mr

Johnson,

and decision

time for the

Tor y

Remainer

rebels’

SIR – Remainers increasingly speak of

stopping a no-deal Brexit. But this is

really just a smoke screen to conceal

their determination to stop any deal

and keep Britain in the EU.

Three times Parliament rejected

Theresa May’s deal, yet Remainers

have never come forward with a deal

that they or the EU would support, and

they show no signs of doing so.

This duplicitous behaviour has now

resulted in the Prime Minister taking

decisive action to honour the

referendum result, something that

Remainers will never accept.

Brian Higgins

Eastbourne, East Sussex

SIR – MPs and others who are being so

vocal about the prospect of leaving the

EU without a deal have focused their

anger on Boris Johnson.

He too would like to avoid a no-deal

Brexit, and is doing his best to achieve

a deal. Those protesting against the

prorogation of Parliament should

instead direct their grievances towards

the EU, which has refused to give any

ground on a draft agreement that has

never been approved by our

Parliament.

Michael Thomas

Uffington, Oxfordshire

SIR – Those MPs who regard the

prorogation as an assault on

democracy should recall that the

behaviour of the Commons over the

last nine months has turned a paragon

of democracy, in the eyes of the world,

into a laughing-stock.

The sooner we are rid of this

ludicrous, failed Parliament and elect a

new one, the better.

Professor Richard Bauckham

Cambridge

SIR – Labour’s intention to flood the

streets with protesters in response to

the proroguing of Parliament is

abhorrent. Britain will be in true peril

if this party ever snatches power.

We are surely past the civil unrest

and riots of the 1970s and 1980s.

Jeremy Corbyn’s rhetoric has proved

that he is categorically unfit to serve

the nation as a “caretaker” prime

minister, let alone as the real thing.

Harvey Ross

Barnet, Hertfordshire

SIR – It is now clear: if Mr Corbyn

cannot get his own way in a lawful and

democratic manner, he is prepared to

disrupt the country by promoting

unrest and causing delays and misery

for millions of law-abiding people.

I hope that voters will bear this in

mind at the next general election.

Wallace Bowden

Denmead, Hampshire

SIR – John Bercow has called the

prorogation “a constitutional outrage”.

Overlooking the fact that prorogation

was an annual event until the hapless

Theresa May took charge, what is

surely more outrageous are the reports

that the supposedly impartial Speaker

is in cahoots with the arch-Remainer

Sir Oliver Letwin.

Both of them are extremely clever

men, but apparently quite unable to

recognise the extent of their own

hypocrisy.

Christopher Gill

Bridgnorth, Shropshire

SIR – Although our Queen has no

direct or executive political powers,

she fulfils the role she does have with

impartiality and integrity at all times.

If only Mr Bercow had the humility to

follow her example.

Geoff Green

Chester

SIR – The former Conservative prime

minister Sir John Major has

announced that he will join legal

action being taken against Mr

Johnson. I do hope that someone in

Central Office remembers to throw

him out of the party.

David Miller

Chigwell, Essex

SIR – My understanding is that

hundreds of MPs in both of the main

parties are acting against the wishes of

their constituents, as expressed in the

2016 referendum.

This is totally undemocratic, and

constituency chairmen should,

whatever their personal views, be

making it clear to their MPs that they

will be deselected unless they respect

the wishes of their constituents.

Richard Mockett

Midhurst, West Sussex

SIR – What an inspiring letter last week

from the politicians and

businesspeople involved in World For

Brexit.

If the benefits they discussed had

been spelt out so clearly before the

referendum, the result would have

been even more decisive, and we

might have been spared the grind of

the last three years. Thank heavens we

now have people in charge who can

see sunshine ahead.

Eve Wilson

Fareham, Hampshire

SIR – I was enormously encouraged by

the letter from World for Brexit.

It is wonderful to know that there is

international support for our struggle

to escape from the undemocratic,

failing EU. Most importantly, though,

the letter nailed the lie that leaving the

EU will turn Britain into an inward-

looking, isolationist backwater.

Alison Levinson

Hastings, East Sussex

The hypocrisy of Remainers who attack Boris Johnson while seeking to overturn the Brexit vote

Small football clubs

SIR – Shame on the English Football

League for expelling Bury FC.

Surely such clubs should be saved to

enable young British talent to develop.

The Premier League is awash with

money; why can’t a small amount be

put aside to support lower-division

clubs in financial difficulties?

Alan Bristow

Little Neston, Cheshire

Plastic-free fields

SIR – On my recent walks I have been

pleased to see stacked hay bales

instead of the ugly plastic bundles.

I hope this is a trend. Plastic does

not belong in the countryside.

Paul French

Andover, Hampshire

Smart idea

SIR – Regarding collarless shirts

(Letters, August 25), my father worked

in the City of London all his working

life (until retirement in the late 1960s)

and was required to dress smartly,

which included wearing a freshly

laundered, clean collar each day.

In the mid-1940s someone came up

with the bright idea of white

cardboard collars to replace the linen

ones, which required laundering.

They were made of good-quality card,

with a linen finish and mock stitching

round the edge, and were really to be

worn one day only and then discarded

• though I know my father wore them
  a second day on the reverse side.
  These collars were much admired
  and he became an agent for them,
  soon having many customers in his
  place of work.
  Linda Reed
  Torrington, Devon

Drugs in prisons

SIR – As a prison governor I served in a

number of establishments over the

course of 30 years’ service and

encountered many of the difficulties

still associated with drugs.

In the early 1990s, while I was

governor of an open prison, the

Scottish Prison Service called for drug

detection units in all establishments.

This proved to be a considerable

success at my prison; despite the ease

with which drugs could be introduced,

the use of them virtually disappeared.

All new admissions were tested on

their arrival and, if positive, given a

couple of weeks to clear their system.

Failure to do so meant a return to

closed conditions, meaning that

weekend home visits were forfeit.

While serving their sentences, a

random number of prisoners were also

regularly tested, and only a very few

failed the test.

Nevertheless, after a couple of

years, it was decided to discontinue

these detection units. I believe that, if

reintroduced, they would go a long

way towards solving the drug problem.

Admittedly, most prisoners are in

closed prisons and not entitled to

weekend home leave, but one solution

could be to deprive the miscreant

temporarily of his in-cell television,

which would have a similar effect.

Eric Brownsmith

Abernethy, Perthshire

Eco-slippers

SIR – As an elderly person who feels

the cold, I need woollen jumpers,

socks and sheepskin slippers.

Were I not able to buy wool (Letters,

August 25), I would need to use more

electricity to keep warm.

Fay Davies

Barnet, Hertfordshire

Shutting up shop: the prorogation period is due to begin between September 9 and 12

SIMON DAWSON/BLOOMBERG

SIR – It was strange reading David

Lidington’s article on HS2 (Comment,

August 25), as he has never voted on

the issue in Parliament one way or the

other, yet he claims not to be impartial.

He has either absented himself or

abstained, to the dismay and

frustration of many of his constituents

in his safe Aylesbury seat. Some of us

feel that he has not sufficiently

represented the majority view on HS2.

Most of us are still firmly against the

project, despite what Mr Lidington

suggests, having never been

convinced by the so-called business

case and certainly not believing it

worth the seemingly limitless cost to

the taxpayer, and the huge and

permanent destruction of our

beautiful countryside. There are better

ways of helping the economy.

Any new “evidence” found to

support the building of HS2 in the

South will undoubtedly be regarded

with disdain by Mr Lidington’s

constituents, even if it is presented as

being in the national interest.

C V Dewick

Weston Turville, Buckinghamshire

SIR – David Lidington is wrong to cast

doubt on HS2’s demand forecasts on

the basis of HS1 experience. Trains via

the Channel Tunnel are serving an

international market, and have

captured their expected share of

traffic, but the size of the overall

market has not grown as forecast since

the Channel Tunnel was built.

In contrast, HS2 will serve a

domestic market that already exists, as

the bulk of its traffic will transfer from

existing lines, which makes its usage

much more predictable.

Moreover, once freed of the

pressure to run fast through-trains

serving major locations only, those

lines will refocus their services on

commuters, local and interurban

travellers, and freight, all of which are

badly served now, so that HS2’s

benefits will go way beyond just

long-distance travellers.

William Barter

Towcester, Northamptonshire

SIR – We need to leave our children

and grandchildren a country with

infrastructure equal to that of similarly

advanced nations. We are decades

behind them already.

The alternatives to HS2 are not

convincing, and would bring

disruption to many more people. We

must keep going with this project.

John Franklin

East Horsley, Surrey

SIR – Much of the cost of the proposed

HS2 service is down to the

construction of tunnels and cuttings

required to reduce noise levels.

When Japan introduced its

shinkansen (bullet trains), which travel

at 200 mph, the innovation was not so

much the speed (which was achieved

easily) as the level of noise reduction.

Japanese law requires trains to

produce no more than 70 decibels,

which is equivalent to the noise inside

the average car.

Japanese engineers noted that train

noise was generated from three

sources: the track (easily fixed), sonic

booms during passage through

cuttings and tunnels, and air

resistance of the pantograph (power

collector). After studying birds,

engineers found solutions to the latter

two problems.

Given that no moving train in

Britain generates less than 70 decibels,

perhaps it is time for our railway

engineers to visit Japan.

Sandy Primrose

High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire

There’s no convincing case to be made for HS

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