'They’ve undermined trust in democracy!’ Tory MP Halfon says time to kick out Remainers
BORIS Johnson was left with no choice but to call an election after being saddled with a “zombie Parliament” stuffed with Remainers hell-bent on thwarting Brexit, with the ongoing gridlock “undermining trust in democracy”, Tory MP Robert Halfon has said.
Brexit: Cameron made right decision on referendum says Halfon
Mr Johnson finally persuaded Parliament to agree to a general election after MPs approved a one-line Bill yesterday which will result in a nationwide poll on December 12. And while Mr Halfon acknowledged a third election in four years was less than ideal, he said the situation had been forced on the Prime Minister by Parliament’s inability to resolve the situation - placing the blame squarely on the shoulders of Jeremy Corbyn and Jo Swinson.
We have to have an election - we have got a zombie Parliament
He said: “We have to have an election - we have got a zombie Parliament.
“Remainers have done everything possible to frustrate the democratic result of 2016 to leave the European Union.
“It’s genuinely astonishing what has gone on.
“The only way to resolve this is to have an election.”
Mr Halfon said Mr Johnson had been forced to accept he had no choice of getting his Brexit Bill passed by the House of Commons because it would have been subject to amended to include a commitment to stay in the EU’s customs union, as well as to hold a second referendum, rendering it “Brexit in name only”.
The MP for Harlow, Essex voted Remain in 2016, but said his views had evolved since then, not least because his constituency split 68.1 to 31.9 in favour of Leave.
Speaking about the former Prime Minister, in whose cabinet Mr Halfon served as a junior minister, he added: “I think David Cameron made absolutely right decision to have a referendum.
“What I think is incredibly sad is that everybody was told at the beginning that if we have a referendum, if you vote to leave, we will be leaving the EU.
“And three and a half years on, we still haven’t left the EU, because predominantly the Labour Party and the Liberals have tried to stop it.
“I think we made it clear what would happen.
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“We sent a pamphlet to everybody’s home.
“There were debates and newspaper articles from every side of the argument, on social media, every single point of view was expressed, month after month.
“It was made very clear that if we were going to vote to leave we would leave.
“I’ve always thought we were the greatest country in the world.
“I’m from an immigrant family and my grandfather sent my father here when he was 15 because he thought it was the greatest democracy in the world.
“And the reason why we are the greatest democracy in the world is because people trust our democracy.
“And what has gone on in the last three years, is that all we have done is undermine that trust.
“Because we’ve said we are going to do something, we’ve said we were going to leave, we promised the people we would follow their wishes and now the Labour Party has stopped it.
“And now the Labour Party wants a second referendum.
“They don’t want an election, they voted against an election and they’ve only been pushed into it because Boris has outmanoeuvred them.”