Brexit: 170 questions the Tory Government must answer to prove they have a plan

In advance of Wednesday’s Opposition Day debate demanding that Parliament should be given a vote on the government’s Brexit plan before Article 50 is triggered, Labour has demanded answers to 170 questions on the detail of that plan - one for each day before Theresa May’s self-imposed deadline to start the process.

Emily Thornberry and Keir Starmer, Labour Shadow Cabinet Secretaries, have sent the letter (attached) to Brexit Secretary David Davis, challenging him to answer their questions, and saying the proposed vote before Article 50 is triggered is necessary “to ensure that, contrary to all public statements we have heard to date, the government actually has a clear plan of what it is intending to achieve, and that all members of the Cabinet with responsibility in this area subscribe to that same plan.”

Their letter continues:

“If you are able to provide satisfactory answers to all these questions, just one per day from tomorrow until 31 March next year, it might give some confidence that the Government is entering the Article 50 negotiations with a clear plan.

“If not, it will reinforce the sense that the Government is instead blundering into this process without a clear endgame in mind, repeating exactly the same mistake that the previous Prime Minister made with his ‘renegotiation’ of Britain’s EU membership last year: working to an artificial, self-imposed timetable; with a flawed Plan A of what he wanted to achieve; and no Plan B whatsoever.

“Given you have consistently spoken up throughout your career in a highly principled way about the importance of Parliamentary sovereignty, we hope you will reflect again on the decision to deny the country’s elected representatives the opportunity to debate and vote on the Government’s plan for Brexit before Article 50 is triggered.

“This would not be for the purpose of blocking the Brexit process, but simply to ensure that process will lead to the best possible outcome for Britain, and that the Government’s proposed plan will deliver that outcome.

“We hope you will…stay true to your principles, rather than following the edicts of an increasingly authoritarian Prime Minister, who seems intent on repeating her predecessor’s mistakes, whatever the calamitous results.”