Well its has been quite a week at Westminister as all focus returns to Brexit. Its must appear chaotic from the outside looking in as there is talk of letters of no confidence in the Prime Minister, calls for another vote or to go back to negotiate another deal which delivers a different version of Brexit.
After reading 585 pages Withdrawal Agreement and the accompanying political declaration I have decided to support the deal which I believe delivers Brexit in a way which both respects the referendum result and does so without damaging the economy and impacting people's jobs. I have now heard all the arguments for voting against the Withdrawal Agreement, and they seem to boil down to two things... either people feel the deal isn't hard enough or they want to reverse the result of the referendum through the so called 'People's Vote'.
On the former it seems to me that the deal which has taken two years to negotiate and must still be agreed by the EU27 countries, is workable as it does end Freedom of Movement of people and give us control over fishing and farming policies at the end of the implementation period.
But it does so in a way that enables frictionless trade to continue which is vital to many of our business here in Chichester such as Rolls Royce and the horticultural industry. We have also heard support expressed nationally by many businesses and business groups including the Federation of Small Business, the CBI, Tech UK and the Framers Union all of who have supported the Prime Minister's proposed way forward. With regard to the People's Vote I personally think this would be indecisive and very divisive. We had a People's Vote in 2016 and we now need to get on with the job of leaving the EU in the best way possible and of course, those pushing for a People's Vote only really want one answer which would be to reverse the referendum and remain in the EU.
It's Important to remember that what unites us a community and a country is so much stronger than any differences we have. The sound of a democracy is people disagreeing with each other... the sound of a dictatorship is silence. We are now reaching a critical moment in our country's future and one night, between now and Christmas after nearly two years of negotiations we will have to vote, we will have to decide and there are no easy answers.
