I WAS both saddened and angered to see MP Dean Russell recently vote to help enable this Government to potentially break the law, no matter how ‘specific and limited’ it is. Below are a handful of simple questions that if answered should help us to understand why and to understand what the Government is actually doing.

1. The Conservative manifesto promised us an ‘oven-ready’ Brexit Deal. Was that a lie?

2. Approximately nine months ago, this Prime Minister exuberantly praised the Withdrawal Agreement - why does the Government now need to change its own ‘oven-ready’ Brexit which it rushed through Parliament with very little scrutiny?

3. A British value I’ve always felt shared across the political spectrum is that of integrity. The Internal Market Bill sees the Government make changes to its own Withdrawal Agreement - so why have the Conservatives blamed other political parties and the EU for sticking to the original agreements it helped make?

4. What other laws would be condoned being broken in a ‘specific and limited’ way?

5. Lastly; despite former Prime Ministers, the Leader of the US House of Representatives, and current Conservative MPs warning against the Government considering breaking the law, Mr Russell and his colleagues supported this action recently. Could trust in our nation’s word will be damaged as a result? How can this help the Brexit negotiations?

I look forward to s to these questions that I know are shared by many of the residents across Watford.

My views on Brexit are well known, but Brexit is happening, whether we like it or not. This is about respecting the rule of law, and the rights and wrong of unilateral action in an international agreement. The law should be adhered to, whether we like it or not.

Cllr Ian Stotesbury

By email