Thread by @TrevorGreetham

Now is the time for Remainers to redouble their energies, lobby their MPs and show up to Saturday’s #PeoplesVoteMarch. A resolution is finally in sight and it needn’t be a bad one.

Thread with template for an MP letter I emailed to mine. 1/n

https://twitter.com/trevorgreetham/status/1185068759792390144

Dear MP name [find email below]

A quick note on Saturday’s votes in which I’d urge you to demand an extension for full economic impact assessments of the Johnson Deal and a confirmatory referendum with our current deal in the EU as the alternative.

parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-…

The good thing about Johnson’s Deal is that it further reduces the risk of No Deal. But just because No Deal is terrible it doesn’t mean we should accept any deal.

Johnson’s Deal differs from May’s in two key respects

1. It includes a variant on the Northern Ireland only backstop first offered by the EU and rejected by May as something no British (unionist) Prime Minister could accept.

2. The political declaration commits the rest of the UK to a much harder Canada+ form of Brexit after an extremely short transition period.

MPs should have to consider these changes under time pressure and without adequate information.

I’d urge you to push for an extension by withholding consent for this deal on Saturday, compelling the Prime Minister under the Benn Act to ask for an extension.

Parliament should further compel the Prime Minister to make it clear that the extension request is for two reasons.

Firstly, so the Treasury, OBR and private sector analysts can publish a detailed economic impact analysis. From what we sae in the November 2018 report a Free Trade Agreement could knock 6.7% off GDP fifteen years out versus Remain. This is only one step up from No Deal at 9.3%.

It simply isn’t good enough for Chancellor @sajidjavid to say that no assessment is required, he doesn’t agree with old analysis saying “a few % points” will be knocked off growth (wrong: these are % points knocked off the economy) and Brexit is obviously a good idea.

A 6.7% shortfall would amount to another lost decade for real incomes following on from the one caused by the financial crisis - and most likely a further witch hunt for groups to blame (bankers, immigrants, Remainers?).

Secondly, an extension is finally the opportunity to have a confirmatory referendum on a single deliverable form of Leave: Johnson’s Deal versus Remain. Leavers are divided and people may well opt to Remain as most surveys already suggest, even before Leave is clearly defined.

Such a vote can be held with proper costings and impact assessments available.

Everyone wants Brexit brought to a satisfactory conclusion that respects democracy but now is not the time to rush through a deal that wasn’t obvious to MPs or the public until late this week.

Please insist on full economic impact assessments and time to hold a confirmatory referendum to take place ahead of a general election, which would be fought on multiple issues.

Brexit is too important to lump in with everything else.

With kind regards,
[Your name here]

Ends.

PS. Do say you are a constituent and would appreciate a reply.