Last Wednesday in Parliament a debate took place that was organised by the Labour Party calling on the Government to publish the 58 reports that were drawn up to help determine the impact of Brexit. Along with many other voices in the debate was that of Huw Merriman who is the MP for Battle and Bexhill. Huw did not campaign to remain or leave the EU but he admitted after the referendum that he voted to remain. Huw spoke about the Parliamentary process following Brexit referring to the decision taken by his constituents, the majority of whom voted to leave the EU:

“for whatever reason, they came to that decision and they were right. What I want to do is make a success of it. This is the big concern about this debate, which is a great technical debate that I have found interesting, as a lawyer. The question is whether it moves us forward to making a success of leaving the EU? We must remember that 498 out of 650 Members of this House voted to trigger article 50. Surely it follows that it is in their interests to make a success of a decision that, ultimately, they made. Yet time and again the House is used as a mechanism to slow the process down and try to defeat the ultimate goal of those who voted in that manner. I find that a terrible shame.”

I like Huw voted to remain although unlike Huw do not have any constituents to represent. I am not a lawyer and so I cannot possibly see Parliament through the same lense as Huw does. However whilst Parliament may act as a dampner for many urgent and important matters on occasions, the whole point of having 650 MPs apart from representing constituencies such as Battle and Bexhill, is to ensure that the Government does its job properly. That this slows down processes is inevitable, if disappointing, but with this slowing down comes the opportunity to scrutinise and challenge and improve legislation as well as occasionally rejecting poor or unpopular legislation. Huw as a lawyer and now an MP knows that people including MPs change their minds as facts emerge and circumstances change. It may well be that if the MPs were asked to vote on article 50 now, that the outcome would be different. By the same token it may be that Battle and Bexhill residents would now vote by a majority to remain in the EU. The unwillingness of people like Huw to take this into account is a concerning as his inability to respect the value that his own workplace brings to bear on legislation and process.