'Do you want to reverse the referendum?' Tory rebel put on the spot over Brexit bill vote
DOMINIC Grieve was asked if he was attempting to disrupt the democratic will of the British people by opposing Brexit plans during a fiery interview.
The Conservative MP was named on a list of 15 Tory MPs who announced they would vote with Labour against locking the Brexit date into law.
Mr Grieve denied leading the group of rebel Conservative MPs who threaten to derail Brexit.
Speaking on Sky News, host Sarah-Jane Mee asked whether the group of MPs wanted to overturn the Brexit result.
She said: “It sounds at the moment that there are probably enough Tory rebels, 15 or so perhaps to defeat the Government.
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“You will be well aware that one of the accusations is that' anyone who voted for Article 50 but then doesn’t want to fix the date is open to the charge that they don’t actually want us to leave the EU', those are the words of Bernard Jenkin.
“Do you want to reverse the result of the referendum? Is that what is happening here?”
The Tory MP defended his role in the group of MPs who are planning on voting against the Government on the Brexit date amendment.
He replied: “I don’t want to reverse the result of the referendum we have always, all of us accepted the result of the referendum, even if some of us think we made a mistake last year, it is the referendum result.
Do you want to reverse the result of the referendum? Is that what is happening here?
“So we are not trying to do that and I think it is this slightly dangerous characterisation of any questioning to how Brexit is carried out is then sort of somehow turned into a treasonable activity which does worry me because it removes all rational debate.”
Mr Grieve also denied the claim that he was leading the group of Conservative MPs but vowed to scrutinise the Withdrawal Bill.
He said: “I am not the leader, there is a group of us who have serious concerns about the Withdrawal Bill and want to improve it.
“Anna Soubry is absolutely right when she points out the attempt to characterise us as people who want to prevent Brexit from happening is completely mistaken.
“As for the fact that I am identified as a group of 15 Members of Parliament who are trying to work together and work with the Government to make sure this legislation is fit for purpose, that I have no concerns about being identified as part of that group at all.”
Every member of the group of MPs expected to vote against the Government, except for Kenneth Clarke, voted to trigger Article 50 and begin the two-year exit process.
Speaking in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Remainer Anna Soubry said she was “proud to wear the badge” of being named but branded it “bullying”.
She said: “This is a blatant piece of bullying that goes to the very heart of democracy.
“None of those people who have been named in this way, and I take it as a badge of honour actually, none of those people want to delay of thwart Brexit, we just want a good Brexit that works for everybody in our country.”
