Lib Dems: 50 days until Brexit cliff-edge

With just 50 days to go until exit day, Liberal Democrat Brexit Spokesperson Tom Brake MP has laid a Private Members Bill to give the people the final say on the Brexit deal.

Commenting on the Bill, Mr Brake said:

With just 50 days to go it is irresponsible that the Conservative Government have failed to rule out crashing out of the EU. The Tories have made a mess of Brexit and are as far away from agreement within their own party as ever.

It is time to stop this mess and move the UK away from the cliff edge. The only way forward now is a People’s Vote.

That is why the Liberal Democrats have tabled this Bill to extend Article 50 and give the people the final say on May’s deal, with the option to stay in the EU.

Greg Clark’s warning exposes recklessness of Tory Govt

Responding on Greg Clark’s appearance before the BEIS Select Committee, in which the Secretary of State said the effective Brexit deadline for exporters was within “the next couple of weeks”, Leader of the Liberal Democrats Vince Cable said:

Greg Clark’s warning exposes the recklessness of this government’s strategy of gambling on an unlikely last-minute breakthrough in the Brexit negotiations.

UK companies exporting competitively to the rest of the world thanks to EU-negotiated free trade agreements are now facing a hit to their business long before March 29th, notwithstanding the uncertainty they have already faced. Businesses and workers are paying the price of No deal already.

This is yet another example of the damage Brexit will inflict on our economy. It is time the people were given the opportunity to avoid all this chaos through a People’s Vote, with the option to remain in the EU.

Lib Dems: Govt must investigate civil service support for Tory meetings

Leader of the Liberal Democrats Vince Cable and Lib Dem Brexit spokesperson Tom Brake have today written to the Head of the Civil Service urging him to investigate allegations that civil servants are assisting with the so-called Malthouse Compromise working group.

This working group of Conservative MPs has been meeting with officials in the Cabinet Office. Given the group are not members of the Government, the Liberal Democrats believe the provision of civil service support breaches rules and raises questions for the Prime Minister to answer.

Leader of the Liberal Democrats Vince Cable said:

The Civil Service should not be spending time on a Tory party peace initiative which has no relevance to our negotiations with the EU and which is undeliverable.

Liberal Democrat Brexit Spokesperson Tom Brake added:

If Ministers have been instructing civil servants to assist Jacob Rees Mogg and Nicky Morgan in their quest to find a unicorn, that can piece the Tory party back together again, this would be a flagrant breach of Ministerial rules.

Any costs associated with such a naked party political stunt would have to be reimbursed to taxpayers and instructions issued to all Ministers to refrain from abusing civil service resources in this way.