Thame constituent asks MP to explain his Brexit votes

A THAME constituent has written an open letter to John Howell MP, asking him to explain his voting following the various Brexit ‘deal’ amendments debated in Parliament last Tuesday, January 29.

Roy Motteram, of Cheshire Road, Thame, wrote:

“Dear John Howell, I note that on 29th January you voted against a number of amendments that would have ruled out leaving the EU without a deal.

“I note that at the same time, you also voted against a number of amendments that would have required the government to seek an extension to the Article 50 deadline in the case that Parliament had not come to an agreement over the form of our withdrawal from the EU.

“You also voted against amendments that would have given Parliament the chance to explore options that might prove acceptable, both to Parliament & the EU.

“Finally you voted for an amendment that instructed the government to return to the negotiating table to identify an “alternative arrangement” that could replace the backstop in the existing Withdrawal Agreement. Since the UK government, its civil servants, the EU negotiators & their technical advisors have been looking for such “alternative arrangements” for over 2 years, I fail to understand why you expect our Prime Minister to succeed in that task within the next 2 weeks. You appear to have voted for an amendment that does nothing other than waste another 2 weeks & further erode whatever goodwill we might have remaining in the
European capitals.

“I’m sure that you must have had your reasons for such a counter-intuitive set of voting choices, but they escape me. I sincerely hope it wasn’t just because you’d been told to vote that way.

“Your job is, of course, to use your judgement to vote in what you see to be the best interest of the nation & your constituents in particular. I hope you take the time to explain your rationale in your next e-briefing, to avoid us jumping to conclusions.”

Regards,
Roy Motteram
Thame