Brexit must be 'Subject to Contract'

Nobody offers to buy or sell a house unless it’s ‘Subject to Contract’. Nobody negotiates to buy or sell a business unless it’s ‘Subject to Contract’.

The legal definition of ‘Subject to Contract’ is:

‘The parties are not legally bound until the contract is executed’.

In any deal, if you don’t like the contract, you can walk away. Agreeing to a contract before you’ve seen the contract is nuts.

▪ In the 2016 referendum, nobody had any details of the Brexit contract.

That's because there was no contract. There was no agreement.

No plan, no manifesto, no blueprint for Brexit.

On the contrary, the country was given a load of promises about Brexit – typical salesman spiel – that have turned out to be false, exaggerated and, frankly, baloney.

Last year former Prime Minister, Theresa May, negotiated a 585-page contract with the EU that was not available to anyone during the referendum.

None of the details in this draft contract bore any resemblance to the promises and claims made by Brexiters during the referendum, who it seems were prepared to say anything to clinch the vote for Leave.

Parliament gave this contract a resounding and overwhelming thumbs down, making history as the biggest ever government defeat on the floor of the House of Commons.

The government then asked Parliament to change its mind (something we – the people – apparently are not allowed to do).

And then on two more occasions, Parliament again rejected her deal.

Throughout the process, Mrs May said that:

"Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed."

Now, the new Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has negotiated a new(ish) exit deal of 534 pages long.

It involves an arrangement that he previously said that no British Prime Minster would ever accept: a customs border down the Irish Sea.

Parliament voted to delay considering Johnson’s deal until it is subject to further Parliamentary scrutiny – which in more normal times would be, well, normal.

It means that over three years after the referendum, and just 11 days before we are scheduled to leave the EU, nothing is agreed.

▪ Nothing is agreed. Brexit is not agreed. There is still no plan for Brexit.

So, now what? I will tell you what.

▪ We, the people, need to have our say.

It’s our country. It’s our future. The consequences of Brexit will affect us, our children, our children’s children and generations far into the future.

Nobody gave informed consent for Brexit on 23 June 2016. The country was not at all informed about what Brexit meant, or what kind of Brexit we might get.

On the contrary, we were entirely misinformed about Brexit.

That's why we now need a new vote, for the very first time, on whatever Brexit it is that we're going to be offered.

If we don’t have an opportunity to agree or not agree on what happens next, it means that the Brexit deal - or no deal - will be imposed on us without our permission.

And that will mean that Brexit happens without the clear ‘will of the people’.

It’s now essential that we have a new vote on Brexit. Only those who are against democracy, and the democratic process, disagree.

• If Britain then votes to accept the Brexit deal, then so be it.
• Or if Britain then votes to reject the Brexit contract and to keep the status quo – our full membership of the EU – then so be it.

With Parliament at loggerheads every day over Brexit, this is now the only way to settle the matter. Democratically. By order of ‘the people’.

• Commentary and graphic by Jon Danzig
• Please re-Tweet, and follow Reasons2Remain on Twitter.
• Reasons2Remain is a campaign for a democratic reversal of #Brexit. We believe that Brexit will do great harm to Britain, and that we didn’t have the full facts in 2016.