04 Sep Local Green MEP joins cross-party declaration on Brexit
Green Member of the European Parliament for the East of England Catherine Rowett has added her name to a Declaration committing her to work together with MEPs from across the political spectrum to challenge the prime minister’s attempt to exclude parliament from the decisions concerning the UK’s departure from the European Union, and calling upon continental colleagues to support their efforts.
Catherine Rowett met representatives of the Greens, Labour, Liberal Democrat, Alliance, Plaid Cymru and Scottish National Party in Brussels to sign “the Brussels Declaration” stating:
We, the undersigned UK Members of the European Parliament, representing England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, declare as follows:
The proroguing, or shutting down the UK Parliament in order to limit scrutiny of the implications of a potential no deal Brexit is completely unacceptable. Limiting the opportunity for MPs to debate, vote and crucially, to legislate, cannot be the response to a referendum in which Leave campaigned for the UK Parliament to “take back control”.
In the continuation of the spirit that UK MEPs have worked in since the 2016 Referendum we commit ourselves to continue to work across party lines and declare that it is vital that MPs do likewise.
We were all elected just four months ago with clear mandates. We are working together. We call upon our European friends and colleagues to assist domestic efforts in keeping the door open to us.
Catherine Rowett MEP said, “We are facing one of the biggest crises in our country’s history and that is why I am uniting with other MEPs against the anti-democratic arrogance of Boris Johnson.
“I am shocked that in Britain we are finding our own parliamentary system is being silenced in these troubled times. It is multiply irresponsible to place our country in such danger, when there is a risk of crashing out of the EU.
“Food and medicine shortages, the collapse of many farms, and the loss of funding and status in our key research institutions, which are so crucial to us here in the East of England, would put the peaceful functioning of our society at risk.
“No one voted for this kind of mayhem. We in the East of England are not the only ones who will suffer, but we can be among the first to stand up and speak out against Johnson’s power-grab.”
The Declaration was signed by:
Green Party
Molly Scott Cato MEP
Alexandra Phillips MEP
Magid Magid MEP
Scott Ainslie MEP
Ellie Chowns MEP
Gina Dowding MEP
Catherine Rowett MEP
Labour Party
Richard Corbett MEP
Seb Dance MEP
Jude Kirton-Darling MEP
Neena Gill MEP
John Howarth MEP
Theresa Griffin MEP
Jackie Jones MEP
Julie Ward MEP
Rory Palmer MEP
Claude Moraes MEP
Liberal Democrat Party
Catherine Bearder MEP
Caroline Voaden MEP
Chris Davies MEP
Phil Bennion MEP
Jane Brophy MEP
Judith Bunting MEP
Dinesh Dhamija MEP
Barbara Ann Gibson MEP
Antony Hook MEP
Martin Horwood MEP
Shaffaq Mohammed MEP
Lucy Nethsingha MEP
Bill Newton Dunn MEP
Sheila Ritchie MEP
Irina Von Wiese MEP
Alliance Party
Naomi Long MEP
Plaid Cymru
Jill Evans MEP
Scottish National Party
Alyn Smith MEP
Aileen Mcleod MEP
Christian Allard MEP
