Nigel Farage: 500 MPs Agreed — We MUST Leave the EU on March 29th

BOLTON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 22: Nigel Farage, MEP and Vice Chairman of the pro-Brexit Leav
Christopher Furlong/Getty
Victoria Friedman

Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage has hit back at MPs who are attempting to stop the UK leaving the EU on March 29th without a deal, saying that nearly 500 MPs had already agreed to do just that in event of a no-deal.

Mr Farage made the comments after it was revealed that Remainers are plotting to overturn Parliamentary protocol in efforts to stop the UK leaving on WTO terms should Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal be voted down on Tuesday — which is the most likely scenario.

“This is something I don’t think has really been focused on,” the Leave Means Leave co-chairman said on his Sunday LBC Radio show.

“This is something that concerns Members of Parliament. Back in March 2017, there was a debate about the triggering of Article 50 [the legal mechanism for leaving the European Union.]

“There was then a vote on the triggering of Article 50 and unbelievably, nearly 500 MPs voted to trigger Article 50. Only 100 opposed it. A massive overwhelming Parliamentary majority of 384 [498 votes to 114] so it couldn’t really have been simpler.

 

“What Article 50 says is what 500 MPs voted for, backing up our vote in a referendum, backing up our vote in a General Election where 85 per cent of us voted for parties saying they would deliver Brexit.

“What Article 50 says is: ‘The EU Treaties shall cease to apply to the State in question from the date of entry into force of the withdrawal agreement or’ — and here’s the key — ‘failing that, two years after the notification’ so the notification was the letter that was delivered that Theresa May spoke about.

“It’s clear what 5oo MPs agreed to was either we have a Withdrawal Agreement or in two years — namely on March 29th, 2019, at 11pm — we just leave the European Union.

“It couldn’t be simpler and I have to say, I did think on that day, ‘That’s it. We’ve done it. That simply can’t be overturned. It’s impossible.’

“Surely, our Members of Parliament could not be that twisting, could not be that dishonest not just to break the promise that our decision would be implemented but that their own explicit vote on this important legal document?”

At the heart of the coup are a group of cross-party backbenchers who are attempting seize control of Brexit from the Government and may even try to stop a WTO exit, suspend Article 50, or even to prevent the UK from leaving the EU altogether.

MPs are said to be tabling an amendment to change Commons rules so backbenchers’ motions could precedence over Government business, with House of Commons sources telling The Times that Speaker John Bercow, deemed “part of the rebel team,” could allow the amendment.

In other reports on Sunday, it was revealed that Bercow had met with arch Remainer Dominic Grieve before the Speaker breached Commons precedent by allowing Grieves’ amendment on Wednesday in attempts to derail a WTO Brexit.

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