Failure to deliver Brexit would consign the Conservative Party to the dustbin of history

Failure to deliver Brexit would consign the Conservative Party to the dustbin of history

On 2nd May, people across most of England go to the polls to elect which party runs their council. This are the most important elections in years, the choice between Conservative-run councils, keeping taxes low and investing in people and services; or Labour under Jeremy Corbyn laying waste to services and higher taxes to fund undeliverable promises, penalising the poorest in our communities, spreading hatred and fear due to Corbynistas taking control of Labour constituencies, driving out hard-working moderates and replacing them with hard-line Marxists with a sense of entitlement; or the Lib Dems and others out of touch with reality, focused only on denying the people the outcome of the largest democratic vote in British history.

It’s also the first post-Brexit election, or so it should be.

In 2016 when we had our People’s Vote, we mandated Parliament and the Government to leave the EU and 11pm on 29th March 2019 was the moment set for that event when Article 50 was triggered. Failure to deliver on this democratic mandate would consign the Conservative Party to the dustbin of history.

Many councillors and activists would go it alone, and the country would be plunged into its biggest political crisis in history. The Conservative Party would be seen as a party of betrayal, not the party of the people. We simply have to deliver on what people voted for, no delay, no fudge, Out means Out, and Out on 29th March 2019 at 11pm, not months or years later.

The choice is very simple, leave with a deal – the Prime Minister’s deal, amended to get rid of the backstop – or no deal. It’s like going into a chip shop for tea: you either have fish and chips or you don’t, you can’t have the fish and go back later for the chips because that’s not a proper tea. In fact it’s not tea at all, and that applies to Brexit: you leave with a deal or you leave without a deal, it’s a simple choice, take it or leave it, like the fish and chips – it’s not possible to have any other outcome.

Democracy must be upheld and respected, both in terms of voters’ wishes and the wishes of Conservative Party members, both activists and councillors, who have been clear from day one what it is we want. The failure of some of our MPs to grasp this shows that our party is in need of democratic reform. Local Associations should have the power to select and deselect local candidates for Parliament – people with a connection to the local community, not people thrust into all corners of the country by CCHQ, staffed by people who have never done a real job in their lives, who live in a bubble outside of reality, in a system where who you know and where you came from is what counts. We want a greater say in where our party is going, the chance for ordinary working class local people to stand for Parliament, where our voice is heard once again at conference as opposed to the ‘we talk, you listen’ conference we have now. In simple terms, we want our party back, our wishes respected and our voices heard.

The Prime Minister has shown real leadership on Brexit, despite voting Remain, a decision I respect. She realised that the majority in our country voted to Leave and has repeatedly said she will deliver Brexit and, unlike some, I believe her. Now is her chance to show she meant it, to prove the doubters wrong and deliver a deal that lets us leave the EU fully or else we leave with no deal at 11pm on 29th March. Anything else is not respecting the will of the majority.

We the people, the heartbeat of the Conservative Party, want Brexit, we want change and above all we want our voices heard. If the Prime Minister delivers, she will go down as a great Prime Minister. But failure to deliver would mean her likely going down as the last Conservative Prime Minister – not just for a generation, but possibly forever.