Remainers clutching at straws, says MP
Calls for another general election or second referendum is down to Remain supporters clutching at straws, says one MP.
North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson says a general election is likely if Parliament passes Theresa May's Brexit agreement – but does not expect that to happen.
Mr Paterson, one of the backbench Tory MPs who triggered a vote of confidence in the Prime Minister last month, said there was no reason why Theresa May could not now continue until the end of the year.
He dismissed calls for another general election or a second referendum as remain supporters clutching at straws.
Rubbish
"It's rubbish, we are going to leave the EU at the end of March, this is just an extension of the 'Project Fear', and is massively exaggerated," said Mr Paterson.
But the former Northern Ireland secretary did say that if Mrs May succeeded in getting her controversial Brexit agreement passed by parliament, that could lead to the collapse of the government.
"If that happened it would put Northern Ireland in a different entity to the rest of the UK, where it would be classified as UK (NI) on maps," he said.
"If that happened, the DUP has made it clear that it would withdraw its support for the Government.
"That could mean the Government would be unable to get its finance bills through the Commons, forcing a General Election. I don't think that will happen, because I don't think Theresa May will get her withdrawal agreement through the Commons."
Pleased
He said he was pleased to hear that the Government was now stepping up its preparations to do business on World Trade Organisation terms, which he said worked well for the rest of the world.
"There is no reason why Theresa May cannot continue as Prime Minister if she delivers on the election promise to leave the EU, leave the customs union and leave the single market," he said.
"At the moment it looks like we will be leaving on World Trade terms. China trades with the EU on World Trade terms, the United States trades with the EU on World Trade terms, so why can't we?
"You have to ask yourself the question 'why?' Why would we not let food and drugs into our country? Why would our many excellent suppliers want to stop selling us goods?"
