Conservative MP John Redwood Discusses the Brexit Debate

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: They seem to be descending into some crisis and many fear for the sanctity of Britain’s, yes, unwritten but nonetheless, you know, ancient constitution. What do you have to say to that?

JOHN REDWOOD, BRITISH CONSERVATIVE MP: I would say we got a (INAUDIBLE) democracy and we’re still pursuing a very tired and old set of arguments. We thought we had resolved all this by holding a referendum of all the United Kingdom voters three years ago. And then Parliament and then government said to people, “You will make the decision and the future Parliament will get on and implement your choice.” And now, we have a stubborn group of MPs in this Parliament who having stood for election on that ticket have now torn it all up and said they want to try and stop Brexit altogether or they want to stop Brexit on the terms that are available. And so, yes, we’re having a very lively set of exchanges. We do, of course, have a constitution written down in many important documents and not all of them are old. And we’re seeing that the rebel side against the government is trying to flex and change our constitution in ways that suit them.

AMANPOUR: OK. So, let’s take this little bit, bit by bit. But first, I want to ask you what you believe is going to be the next step. There’s obviously going to be a big vote. What are we going to see, do you think, will the prime minister call for an election if the vote goes against him the next vote in Parliament?

REDWOOD: I really can’t tell you because as you rightly reported, we now have a very balanced Parliament where no one clearly has a permanent majority. The government still commands more support than any other grouping within the Parliament, but the government can’t always carry its business. So, it makes it extremely difficult to predict. What is very clear is that what the government decided to do is far from unusual. We always have three weeks off from Parliament in the second half of September into October because that’s the time when our different political parties have their big conferences and the members of Parliament want to attend those and not have to come back to Parliament to vote. So, that is quite normal. And then another thing, a new prime minister wishing to lead a new government wanted to do is hold a Queen speech, that’s the occasion in Parliament where the government through the speech from the crown lays out its program for the year ahead, and that again is something which Boris Johnson quite rightly decided he needed to do.

AMANPOUR: OK.

REDWOOD: And that will afford Parliament plenty of debating time. Three or four weeks are available for debating Brexit if they want to do it all over again. But your viewers should know that I’m afraid the British Parliament hasn’t done anything but talk about Brexit for three years. So, it’s a bit difficult to know what new arguments they want to bring forward.