I wrote the article below in mid-June, not so very long before the referendum vote.

I completely stand by the title I gave it, though the control issue is panning out in a way I didn’t expect.

There’s now plenty of talk about, “We’ll have this, we’ll require that…”, but in fact it’s not up to us to decide. Maybe we can’t even start to negotiate the exit deal until after we’ve declared that we’re having it. Is that a pig in a poke or what?

Our new PM now proposes to bypass Parliament (our democratically-elected MPs) in order to invoke Article 50. Just one question – WHY?

The (advisory) referendum showed a tiny majority of people who voted as being in favour of leaving (that’s 37.8% of the electorate).

Many Remainers may have stayed at home because the bookies anticipated an overwhelming Remain vote.

Many people who wanted to vote were not permitted to (myself included).

The Quitter leaders ran screaming for the trees when they realised their misrepresentations and downright lies had conned enough people for them to have to deliver. Not just “talk the talk”, but “walk the walk”.

A good many Quitters now say it was a mistake, and others say, “What IS the EU anyway?”

So why will Mrs May not put the issue before Parliament? Could it be because she thinks they are sensible, responsible, intelligent and patriotic enough to put the country first?

If you believe in a Representative Parliamentary Democracy rather than a Prime Ministerial Autocracy please support our People’s Challenge to the Government on Article 50 and ensure that it is Parliament that decides on when, how and under what circumstances the UK should leave the EU.

People’s Challenge to the Government on Art. 50: A Parliamentary Prerogative

My June article is below:

“Britain outside the EU would not be taking control – this is a myth that doesn’t stand up to scrutiny at all.

Immigration – the UK’s not in Schengen now, so border control wouldn’t change after a Brexit. As things stand today, immigrants who can’t get work can be obliged to return to whence they came, though the majority of them work, pay their dues and are positive members of the community, so what’s not to like?

There aren’t untold hordes of unelected officials in Brussels. The EU has far fewer unelected officials than the UK political system which is stuffed with civil servants – UK civil servants outnumber EU civil servants 9 to 1.

Britain, like the other EU members, has the right of veto on new joiners, so we’re not ‘unable to prevent Turkey joining’ (for example), as has recently been alleged. Not convinced? Remember, France twice vetoed our accession, and the rules regarding new members haven’t changed.

The UK Parliament determines what legislation will be passed for the UK, and as far as I’ve seen, the stuff about (for example) workers’ rights emanating from the EU is to workers’ benefit, esp. in terms of women in the workplace and safety in the workplace. Approximately 96% of EU legislation was endorsed by the UK Government and Parliament.

In fact, the UK would have to re-negotiate trade agreements with the EU, ie. with a bunch of thoroughly brassed-off bunnies who would be in no mood to decide to let the UK have what it had before (much of which had been vigorously negotiated) with no problem and no questions asked. Why would they be nice to people who’d just kicked them in the teeth and called them a bunch of corrupt, self-indulgent, bureaucratic despots?

That doesn’t sound like being in control to me! It seems to me that post-Brexit we would have to do no end of grovelling just to secure negotiations and end up with what we had before, minus the good bits of course. Never mind the perks like a rebate and an opt-out from the Euro.

It’s time to stop dressing up prejudice and xenophobia as a legitimate argument, and look at the facts behind the Quitters’ (often ludicrous) claims. The closer we get to June 23rd, the more off-beam those claims get.

Listen to Gordon Brown – we should be leading, not leaving! https://www.facebook.com/peoplesincampaign/videos/1053759234700690/“