Verbatim report of proceedings

Wednesday, 29 January 2020 - Brussels

Withdrawal Agreement of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community (debate)

  Richard Corbett (S&D). – (inaudible) ... against this Withdrawal Agreement because it’s bad for Britain, it’s bad for Europe, and we think it was wrong for Boris Johnson to proceed without putting it back to the British people to a confirmatory referendum. That was like saying to the British public: you had your say three years ago (four years ago now); now you have to shut up and accept whatever I come up with, no matter how bad it is and no matter how different it is from what he promised.

Four years ago, Johnson and his Leave campaign said this would all be easy; it’s turned out to be rather difficult. They said it would save lots of money that would all go to the NHS; it’s turning out to cost a fortune. They said it would be good for Britain and the economy; the opposite is true. That’s why the British public voted 53% in our elections for parties demanding another referendum. Brexit does not have the wholehearted consent of the British people, and that’s for very good reasons: it bears no resemblance to what they were promised.

Nor will his promise to ‘get Brexit done’ on 31 January turn out to be anything like true. That’s the beginning of the next phase: negotiations to settle issues which will prove very difficult. Britain has to make difficult choices. Will it want to stay close to the European Union, aligned with the rules, or distance itself? If it distances itself, it has huge economic costs. If it aligns itself, it has to follow the rules without having a say on them anymore. Neither is actually good for Britain.

And that’s why public opinion will continue to move against Brexit. That’s why I predict that the catchphrase next year in our media and social media will be ‘Brexit isn’t working’. That’s what people will say, and that’s why – that, and the fact that it is especially our young people who are strongly against Brexit – this may indeed not be an adieu, it may just be an au revoir.