The Government and Brexiteers have been speaking about negotiation since 24th June with a high level of ignorance. This man is supposedly the nations negotiator and yesterday in Parliament demonstrated how he is unfit for the job. Of course standing up in front of colleagues and being cheered and jeered at is very different to the environment in which most negotiations take place. However to enter any environment with a clear offer in your brief case demands preparation and a full grasp of what the offer includes. David Davis was faced with the prospect of the Government being defeated over the need for Parliament to have a say on what sort of deal he manages to strike with the European Union. Throughout the last 17 months the Government has indicated its failure to understand what is needed of it and indeed what it means for this nation to express matters in a sovereign way. All those Brexiteers who have used the argument regarding a loss of sovereignty as a basis for our departure seem incapable of understanding how lacking in sovereignty our own Parliament is. We elect an MP, the largest number of MPs from a given party then form the Government and they propose laws that suit their agenda and because the same party is dominant in Parliament, Parliament passes the laws and we are told this is democracy in action. Yesterday David Davis demonstrated just how little sovereignty his party believes in.

Because he knew a defeat was in the offing he proposed a bill that would give Parliament a chance to vote to endorse the deal that he secures with the EU. On the face of it, this was clear and simple and exactly what Parliament was after. However thanks to Owen Patterson who is a Brexiteer, the flaw in the Bill was revealed within seconds. What happens if we reject the Bill when it comes to Parliament – does that mean the UK will leave without a deal? Yes came the reply.

The fact is this Government and its predecessor have got us into this mess as they sought to deal with their internal weaknesses and fears and some minor external ones such as UKIP. The people were promised all sorts of things if we voted to Leave, and threatened with all sorts of things if we did not stay. It is fair to argue that a great deal of those on the Remain campaign used fear as their tool, however the Vote Leave campaign promised things that it is now clear are not going to be offered. If our MPs are going to do what is democratically correct they need to assess the exit deal against both these false set of promises. If at the point of departure, the deal on offer does not match the promises made to our nation in the run up to June 23rd, then they need to reject the deal and put Article 50 on hold whilst they go back to the people. That is what our MPs must do. If David Davis is offering a choice of taking what is on offer or leaving anyway, then he is failing to deliver for our Parliament and indeed for the British People a meaningful offer. If that is what he believes is acceptable it shows he is unfit to negotiate on our behalf and must be replaced as a matter of urgency.