During Exiting the European Union Questions, I asked the Minister what assessment they have made of the potential effect of revoking Article 50, on voter confidence in both politicians and democracy. The Minister insisted that revoking Article 50 would cause irreparable damage to the relationship between voters and the Members of Parliament who represent them. It would reverse the outcome of the 2016 referendum, he continued, betraying not only the 17.4 million voters who voted to leave, but everyone who voted, putting their faith in our democracy at risk. Revoking article 50 would break the trust the British people place in politicians, in voting and in democracy.
In total agreement with the sentiment of his initial answer, I further asked what steps his Department is taking to maintain the public’s faith in the importance of their votes and confidence in this Government delivering what they said they would deliver - particularly as we head into European elections that the public did not want, vote for, or support.