Picture: Chris McAndrew
Wes Streeting and Mike Gapes both said it would be an “economic disaster” for the country to crash out of the European Union in March.
They are two of 209 MPs demanding a mechanism to ensure the UK won’t leave without a deal in a letter published yesterday.
“The one thing that the overwhelming majority of MPs agree on is that crashing out of the EU would be an absolute disaster in terms of trade and jobs,” said Ilford North MP Wes Streeting.
And the manufacturing industry is described as a particular concern by Ilford South MP Mike Gapes, as it is dependent on “component supply chains” from the EU.
Mr. Gapes also highlighted food trade, materials related to medical research and aircraft rights are all dependent on international agreements, all of which could be threatened without a deal.
He added: “They are already testing out this fantasy of creating imaginary queues of lorry’s in Kent, that’s an indication of how ridiculous things have got. We are wasting money paying drivers to sit around pretending to be in traffic jams.
“That is the nature of what it will be like but it will be much worse than a fantasy. We could have miles and miles of queues at Dover and Calais.”
89 lorries were involved in a test preparing for potential border disruption that would be caused by a no-deal Brexit, although critics pointed out that was significantly lower than the 150 that were supposed to take part.
Members belonging to the Conservative, Labour, and Liberal Democrat parties have all supported the letter which has almost a third of all MPs behind it.
Streeting said even in his constituency, which saw 53% vote to leave, there are people telling him this isn’t what they voted for.
“We respected the result and tried to negotiate for the last couple of years,” he said, adding he now thinks the Prime Minister “owes” it to the public to give them a say on her deal which will affect the country for “generations to come.”
He’s criticised Theresa May for “threatening Parliament and the country with no-deal to try and blackmail people into backing her,” which he described as an “irresponsible way for the PM to behave.”
“There’s a fine line between resilience and stubbornness and she’s on the wrong side of it.”
A crucial vote on her deal will take place on Tuesday, 15 January.
