Let’s salute the heroic Remainers who put democracy first last night

Let’s salute the heroic Remainers who put democracy first last night

For eurosceptic MPs, it has been a long haul.

For much of the last 40 years, they were often branded cranks and obsessives, pontificating on minor points of constitutional law whilst they bided their time in the political wilderness.

Now the revolution has come full circle. It’s no longer the eurosceptics who are the eccentrics, but the europhiles. For a prime example, look no further than the former Chancellor and Home Secretary, Ken Clarke. This  is a man who has held six Cabinet posts over 32 years, so many that the blue plaque destined for his house could just as easily go on the government front bench. But as he spoke during the debate on Tuesday, this titan of numerous Tory governments sounded like a fringe voice.

In a relatively short time, euroscepticism has become totally ascendant. Since the referendum, numerous leading lights of the Remain campaign have accepted and embraced the result. Philip Hammond has dropped his Brexit doubts and even George Osborne said there’s no way he could have voted against the Bill.

Brexit is in Vogue and Theresa May is on the front cover.

Despite all this, last night’s vote could have changed everything.

The decision of the Supreme Court meant that Parliament would have the final say over giving ministers the power to trigger Article 50. A horrifying prospect for many Leave voters, this gave the Remain-backing MPs – a majority of the Commons – the chance to overturn a decision that thought was disastrous. Indeed, some did eagerly seize this as a get out of Brexit free card, but thankfully many others saw the vote for what it was: a chance to affirm democracy and the will of the British people.

That’s why it’s important that we should recognise the noble Remain-supporting MPs who voted for the Article 50 Bill last night.

For sure, the decision to back Remain may have been a marginal decision for some who were genuinely conflicted both ways over the issues but others have been lifelong supporters of the European project.

The fantastic speech during the debate by the Labour MP for Ilford North, Wes Streeting, summed up their position:

“At a time when liberal democracy feels so fragile and precious, it is hard to overstate the damage that this Parliament would inflict on our democracy were we to reject the outcome of a referendum in which 33.5 million people voted. This was not an advisory referendum. None of us went to the door asking for advice. We warned of the consequences of leaving, and the majority of voters and the majority of constituencies voted leave with the clear expectation that that would actually happen. I say very simply to those lobbying Parliament to ignore the result, ‘My heart is absolutely with you, if only that were possible.’ Let us be honest with ourselves and with each other: if the vote had gone the other way, we would have expected Parliament to abide by the result.”

This was a genuine and credible chance to frustrate Brexit but they chose democracy instead. Against their own personal opinions, they voted for what the people decided and hence began a reaffirmation of British democracy which had been steadily chipped away with every dot and tittle of EU law. While the Bill will obviously face further parliamentary hurdles next week, MPs last night took an historic first step on the road to Brexit and it would be churlish not to recognise those who put the wider democratic interest ahead of their own personal viewpoint.

So here is the roll call of those 346 MPs who declared for Remain at the referendum but voted last night for the Article 50 Bill:

  1. Debbie Abrahams
  2. Peter Aldous
  3. Heidi Allen
  4. Dave Anderson
  5. Edward Argar
  6. Jonathan Ashworth
  7. Victoria Atkins
  8. Ian Austin
  9. Adrian Bailey
  10. Harriett Baldwin
  11. Kevin Barron
  12. Gavin Barwell
  13. Guto Bebb
  14. Margaret Beckett
  15. Hilary Benn
  16. Richard Benyon
  17. Paul Beresford
  18. James Berry
  19. Clive Betts
  20. Nicola Blackwood
  21. Tom Blenkinsop
  22. Paul Blomfield
  23. Peter Bottomley
  24. Tracy Brabin
  25. Karen Bradley
  26. Steve Brine
  27. James Brokenshire
  28. Nick Brown
  29. Robert Buckland
  30. Richard Burden
  31. Richard Burgon
  32. Andy Burnham
  33. Simon Burns
  34. Alistair Burt
  35. Liam Byrne
  36. Alun Cairns
  37. Alan Campbell
  38. Neil Carmichael
  39. James Cartlidge
  40. Alex Chalk
  41. Sarah Champion
  42. Jenny Chapman
  43. Jo Churchill
  44. Greg Clark
  45. Vernon Coaker
  46. Thérèse Coffey
  47. Damian Collins
  48. Oliver Colvile
  49. Julie Cooper
  50. Rosie Cooper
  51. Yvette Cooper
  52. Jeremy Corbyn
  53. Alberto Costa
  54. Stephen Crabb
  55. David Crausby
  56. Jon Cruddas
  57. Judith Cummings
  58. Alex Cunningham
  59. Jim Cunningham
  60. Nic Dakin
  61. Simon Danczuk
  62. Wayne David
  63. Byron Davies
  64. Glyn Davies
  65. Gloria de Piero
  66. Caroline Dinenage
  67. Jonathan Djanogly
  68. Michelle Donelan
  69. Peter Dowd
  70. Oliver Dowden
  71. Jackie Doyle-Price
  72. Jack Dromey
  73. Flick Drummond
  74. Michael Dugher
  75. Alan Duncan
  76. Philip Dunne
  77. Angela Eagle
  78. Clive Efford
  79. Susan Elan Jones
  80. Julie Elliott
  81. Tom Elliott
  82. Michael Ellis
  83. Jane Ellison
  84. Tobias Ellwood
  85. Chris Elmore
  86. Charlie Elphicke
  87. Bill Esterson
  88. Christopher Evans
  89. Graham Evans
  90. David Evennett
  91. Michael Fallon
  92. Mark Field
  93. Jim Fitzpatrick
  94. Rob Flello
  95. Colleen Fletcher
  96. Caroline Flint
  97. Paul Flynn
  98. Kevin Foster
  99. Yvonne Fovargue
  100. Lucy Frazer
  101. George Freeman
  102. Mike Freer
  103. Gill Furniss
  104. Barry Gardiner
  105. Edward Garnier
  106. Mark Garnier
  107. David Gauke
  108. Nick Gibb
  109. John Glen
  110. Mary Glindon
  111. Helen Goodman
  112. Robert Goodwill
  113. Richard Graham
  114. Helen Grant
  115. Damian Green
  116. Justine Greening
  117. Margaret Greenwood
  118. Dominic Grieve
  119. Nia Griffith
  120. Andrew Griffiths
  121. Ben Gummer
  122. Andrew Gwynne
  123. Sam Gyimah
  124. Louise Haigh
  125. Robert Halfon
  126. Luke Hall
  127. Fabian Hamilton
  128. Philip Hammond
  129. Stephen Hammond
  130. Matt Hancock
  131. Greg Hands
  132. David Hanson
  133. Harriet Harman
  134. Mark Harper
  135. Richard Harrington
  136. Carolyn Harris
  137. Simon Hart
  138. Sue Hayman
  139. Oliver Heald
  140. John Healey
  141. James Heappey
  142. Peter Heaton-Jones
  143. Mark Hendrick
  144. Stephen Hepburn
  145. Nick Herbert
  146. Damian Hinds
  147. Simon Hoare
  148. Sharon Hodgson
  149. Kate Hollern
  150. George Hollingbery
  151. Kevin Hollinrake
  152. Kris Hopkins
  153. John Howell
  154. Ben Howlett
  155. Nigel Huddleston
  156. Jeremy Hunt
  157. Nick Hurd
  158. Imran Hussain
  159. Margot James
  160. Dan Jarvis
  161. Sajid Javid
  162. Robert Jenrick
  163. Alan Johnson
  164. Diana Johnson
  165. Jo Johnson
  166. Andrew Jones
  167. Gerald Jones
  168. Graham Jones
  169. Helen Jones
  170. Kevan Jones
  171. Marcus Jones
  172. Michael Kane
  173. Barbara Keeley
  174. Elizabeth Kendall
  175. Seema Kennedy
  176. Danny Kinahan
  177. Stephen Kinnock
  178. Simon Kirby
  179. Julian Knight
  180. Mark Lancaster
  181. Ian Lavery
  182. Phillip Lee
  183. Jeremy Lefroy
  184. Oliver Letwin
  185. Emma Lewell-Buck
  186. Brandon Lewis
  187. Ivan Lewis
  188. Clive Lewis
  189. David Lidington
  190. Rebecca Long-Bailey
  191. Ian Lucas
  192. Holly Lynch
  193. David Mackintosh
  194. Fiona Mactaggart
  195. Justin Madders
  196. Khalid Mahmood
  197. Shabana Mahmood
  198. Alan Mak
  199. Seema Malhotra
  200. Rob Marris
  201. Gordon Marsden
  202. Chris Matheson
  203. Tania Mathias
  204. Theresa May
  205. Steve McCabe
  206. Siobhain McDonagh
  207. Andy McDonald
  208. John McDonnell
  209. Pat McFadden
  210. Conor McGinn
  211. Alison McGovern
  212. Liz McInnes
  213. Patrick McLoughlin
  214. Jim McMahon
  215. Alan Meale
  216. Mark Menzies
  217. Johnny Mercer
  218. Huw Merriman
  219. Stephen Metcalfe
  220. Ed Miliband
  221. Maria Miller
  222. Amanda Milling
  223. Andrew Mitchell
  224. Jessica Morden
  225. Nicky Morgan
  226. David Morris
  227. Grahame Morris
  228. James Morris
  229. Wendy Morton
  230. David Mowat
  231. David Mundell
  232. Lisa Nandy
  233. Bob Neill
  234. Sarah Newton
  235. Caroline Nokes
  236. Melanie Onn
  237. Chi Onwurah
  238. Guy Opperman
  239. Kate Osamor
  240. George Osborne
  241. Albert Owen
  242. Neil Parish
  243. Mark Pawsey
  244. Teresa Pearce
  245. Matthew Pennycook
  246. John Penrose
  247. Toby Perkins
  248. Claire Perry
  249. Jess Phillips
  250. Bridget Phillipson
  251. Chris Philp
  252. Eric Pickles
  253. Daniel Poulter
  254. Rebecca Pow
  255. Lucy Powell
  256. Victoria Prentis
  257. Mark Prisk
  258. Mark Pritchard
  259. Jeremy Quin
  260. Yasmin Qureshi
  261. Angela Rayner
  262. Steve Reed
  263. Christina Rees
  264. Rachel Reeves
  265. Emma Reynolds
  266. Jonathan Reynolds
  267. Marie Rimmer
  268. Laurence Robertson
  269. Geoffrey Robinson
  270. Mary Robinson
  271. Steve Rotheram
  272. Amber Rudd
  273. David Rutley
  274. Joan Ryan
  275. Antoinette Sandbach
  276. Andrew Selous
  277. Naz Shah
  278. Grant Shapps
  279. Alok Sharma
  280. Barry Sheerman
  281. Alec Shelbrooke
  282. Paula Sherriff
  283. Keith Simpson
  284. Chris Skidmore
  285. Ruth Smeeth
  286. Andrew Smith
  287. Cat Smith
  288. Chloe Smith
  289. Julian Smith
  290. Nick Smith
  291. Karin Smyth
  292. Nicholas Soames
  293. Amanda Solloway
  294. Anna Soubry
  295. Caroline Spelman
  296. Mark Spencer
  297. Keir Starmer
  298. John Stevenson
  299. Bob Stewart
  300. Rory Stewart
  301. Gary Streeter
  302. Wes Streeting
  303. Mel Stride
  304. Graham Stuart
  305. Hugo Swire
  306. Mark Tami
  307. Gareth Thomas
  308. Nick Thomas-Symonds
  309. Emily Thornberry
  310. Maggie Throup
  311. Edward Timpson
  312. Kelly Tolhurst
  313. Craig Tracey
  314. David Tredinnick
  315. Jon Trickett
  316. Elizabeth Truss
  317. Thomas Tugendhat
  318. Anna Turley
  319. Karl Turner
  320. Derek Twigg
  321. Stephen Twigg
  322. Andrew Tyrie
  323. Chuka Umunna
  324. Edward Vaizey
  325. Shailesh Vara
  326. Keith Vaz
  327. Valerie Vaz
  328. Robin Walker
  329. Ben Wallace
  330. Matt Warman
  331. Angela Watkinson
  332. Tom Watson
  333. Helen Whately
  334. Chris White
  335. Craig Whittaker
  336. Craig Williams
  337. Gavin Williamson
  338. Phil Wilson
  339. Rob Wilson
  340. David Winnick
  341. Rosie Winterton
  342. Sarah Wollaston
  343. John Woodcock
  344. Iain Wright
  345. Jeremy Wright

"This was a genuine and credible chance to frustrate Brexit, let's applaud remain MPs who chose democracy instead"