'Things would be so much easier if you stayed'

In Munich today, German diplomat and chair of the Munich Security Conference, Wolfgang Ischinger, told Prime Minister Theresa May regarding Brexit, ‘Things would be so much easier if you stayed.’

His comment received warm applause from those present in the hall, lasting much longer than the reception to Mrs May’s own speech.

Mrs May was having none of it. She told the audience in Germany that the decision to leave the EU was final, and there could be no second referendum.

But that didn’t stop her second guessing the reasons why Britain was leaving the European Union (none of which were asked in the referendum poll).

She said people voted for Brexit because of ‘the feeling that we wanted to take control of our borders.’ What she didn’t say is that Britain already has control of its borders. It was a lie imposed on the electorate that Britain was misled into believing otherwise.

Even Mrs May knows that. Before the referendum, she confirmed on BBC’s Andrew Marr show that Britain doesn’t have open borders, not even to EU citizens. She said then:

“We check people at our borders, but what matters at our borders is that you have the information about people that enables you to make that decision about whether somebody should be allowed into the UK or not.

“We are more likely to have that information if we’re inside the European Union.”

(∞ Source Andrew Marr, BBC: https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/24041602.pdf)

Mrs May also said another reason Britain is leaving the EU is because “we wanted to take control of our own laws.” But Britain already does control its laws. The vast majority of British laws are made in our Parliament in Westminster (otherwise it would have nothing to do).

She said we didn’t want to accept decisions being “taken in Brussels”. But we don’t.

In the EU, the UK takes a full and democratic role in the decision-making process, through the directly elected European Parliament, and the EU Council, where Britain is proportionally represented. Indeed, research undertaken by Vote Watch EU demonstrated that the UK government and MEPs had accepted over 97% of EU adopted laws.

Outside the EU, the UK will have no say or vote on EU laws, even though they will affect us just as much, whether we are a member or not.

A delegate at the Munich conference said that the French and the Dutch had voted against a new EU constitution, but then changed their mind in a second referendum when a new framework was put forward.

He said to applause, “That’s not a matter of national shame. I think it may be a matter of national prudence.”

Theresa May responded, “At the time when other countries in the European Union had referenda the results came out against the new constitution and people were asked to vote again.

“Many of us in the United Kingdom actually said that that was not the right approach that should be taken. People in the UK feel very strongly that if they take a decision the government shouldn’t turn around to them and say, ‘No, you’ve got that wrong, have another go.’”

However, both the questioner and Mrs May got it wrong. France and the Netherlands voted against a new EU constitution, meaning it didn’t go ahead, as new treaties require the unanimous consent of all member states. That actually shows the EU is run as a democracy.

Later, there was a revised proposal, called the Lisbon Treaty. In a referendum, Ireland voted 53% against the Treaty.

But then Ireland won significant concessions called ‘the Irish guarantees’. With these assurances, the Irish voted 67% in favour of the Lisbon Treaty in a second referendum.

It’s absurd to say that the Irish people could be forced to vote in a second referendum in a way they didn’t want. In life, as in referendums, second thoughts can be better.

Mrs May also told her German audience today that “an overwhelming majority in the United Kingdom Parliament voted to say that the decision about membership of the European Union should be one for the people of the United Kingdom.”

But what Mrs May didn’t say is that Parliament didn’t vote for 'the people' to make ‘a decision’ on whether the UK should leave the EU. Parliament overwhelmingly voted that the electorate should be asked for their opinion in an advisory, non-legally binding poll.

The Supreme Court already ruled that only Parliament could decide whether the UK should leave the EU – a decision that Parliament has never actually voted on.

And when Mrs May referred to ‘the British people’ she failed to mention that only 17 million people voted for Brexit – hardly representative of a country with a population of 65 million, and hardly a majority in a country with 46.5 million registered voters.

What Mrs May also didn’t say was that before the referendum she said, “I believe it is clearly in our national interest to remain a member of the European Union.’

For reasons she has never explained, Mrs May changed her mind. Something she won’t allow the British people to do.

• Watch this 2-minute video of Theresa May in Munich: