Thame’s MP challenged over local concern about Brexit

A THAME anti-Brexit group member has challenged the town’s constituency Member of Parliament, John Howell, over an article he wrote for a local paper, in which the MP said that ‘Brexit isn’t high on his constituents’ list of issues,’ and his lack of engagement over the issue. In an open letter Robin Storey of People’s Vote Thame, writes:

Robin Storey of ‘Peoples Vote Thame’ and ‘Open Britain Thame’

Dear Editor, Sadly, John Howell MP couldn’t be more wrong to conclude that Brexit isn’t high on his constituents’ list of issues.

A policy of denial and a few ‘conversations in the street’ with a twitter message to tell us its happened, isn’t really what the constituency deserves.

Here are a few examples of issues Peoples Vote / Open Britain Thame has raised with John Howell MP, to set the record straight. These are real conversations around the constituency and at our many Peoples Vote street stalls – none of which he has attended.

JOBS. BMW Mini have warned publicly of the threat to their supply chain. In fact, they have hundreds of people in Munich working out what they will now do and where future production facilities may be located. That’s from a local conversation with constituents who work in Cowley.

Or a conversation on the platform at Haddenham; where commuters discuss each week’s financial job moves to Frankfurt, Switzerland or Luxembourg, taking with them key parts of our tax base and capability.

NHS. Thame has seen several leaflet campaigns for the Peoples Vote group, seeking a vote on the terms of the final Brexit deal, including one raising the issue of long-term NHS funding issues, if the economy and tax base does less well, as projected by the Treasury, outside of the EU single market and customs union, with less efficient trade arrangements than we currently have.

Already, constituents wonder why there is a cancer ward shut in the John Radcliffe Hospital – due to a lack of nurses. That’s a local conversation.

High tech business around Oxford wonders why they are losing highly qualified EU staff, who no longer feel welcome and why business has been advised to ‘seek advice from a customs agent’, as the Government seems unable to answer what will actually happen if they wish to export.

The local academic community is currently struggling with the loss of EU Horizon funding and a brain drain to other European destinations.

It’s going to be a bad deal, incompetently executed. Constituents wonder why the former Governor of the Bank of England has called preparations “incompetent” this week.

These are the sorts of issues we expect an MP to be engaging in.

John Howell MP

That’s why we’ve been calling on John Howell MP to support the Peoples Vote on the terms of the final Brexit deal. Then we might see concern for constituency, not party survival.

Robin Storey
People’s Vote Campaign
The Open Britain campaign Thame

twitter: @OpenBritThame
Website: https://www.peoples-vote.uk

NB You can read John Howell MP’s views on Brexit on his website: http://www.johnhowellmp.com/john’s-blog/