Brexit: The people must have final say – leader comment

The UK is heading towards the economic disaster of a no-deal Brexit – unless MPs back either Theresa May’s deal or a second referendum. If they won’t support May, they must give the final say to ‘the people’.

Theresa May suffered the biggest Commons defeat for a government in modern political history (Picture: AFP/Getty)

It is indeed a “disgrace”, as Airbus chief executive Tom Enders lamented, that more than two-and-a-half years after the Brexit referendum, we still do not know what is going to happen on 29 March.

But everyone should be very clear that, at the moment, the UK is heading for a no-deal Brexit unless our MPs take action to prevent it.

Just last week, one of two courses of action that would prevent a no-deal – Theresa May’s Brexit plan – suffered the biggest government defeat in the Commons for more than a century. And yesterday, MPs who support the other option – a second EU referendum – admitted the idea did not have enough support and withdrew an amendment to next week’s vote on May’s deal.

Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston said they had done so with “great regret” but that, without the support of Jeremy Corbyn, the amendment would have failed. Labour MP Luciana Berger called on her party leader to “do the right thing”, adding that Labour should not be “facilitating a job-destroying Brexit”. Corbyn’s inability to get off the fence, coupled with May’s stubborn determination to stick with her deal, is pushing Britain ever closer to the now infamous “cliff-edge” of a no-deal, as hardline Brexiteers celebrate. In their latest dubious pronouncement, Lord Tebbit claimed that this outcome would result in cheaper alcohol.

As The Scotsman has repeatedly said, if MPs want Brexit to happen on 29 March, they should vote for May’s plan. It will damage our economy – as will all forms of Brexit – but it will be as nothing compared to the impact of a chaotic plunge into World Trade Organisation rules. Our economy is far too closely intertwined with the EU’s for such a sudden wrench and we are woefully unprepared.

As Enders warned, if the UK does not alter course, Airbus could move its operations out of the country. Many more firms may do the same. Sony has announced its European base is to move to the Netherlands and that country’s government is in talks with more than 250 British companies about relocating.

MPs have an over-riding duty to act in the national interest – even if it may be unpopular. Right now, it is clearly in the national interest to delay Brexit to allow the will of the people to be expressed once more.

We the people now know what we are getting into if the UK leaves the EU. It’s only right that we are given the final say.