“…and if the conditions of our departure differ markedly from what we were all promised in the lead up to the Referendum in 2016, then Parliament has the right to vote to think again.”
We were not “promised” anything prior to the referendum, Mikey. We were threatened with all sorts of nasty things by the Remain and threatened with all sorts of nice things by the Leave camp. The electorate made its choice based on those threats. It was given adequate notice by Project Fear of what would happen if we voted to leave. Some of them were not going to wait until we actually left but would be immediate (e.g. Mr Osborne: “There will be an immediate and profound adverse effect on the UK economy following a vote to leave which could mean up to 500,000 job losses”). People nonetheless voted to leave, not to leave provided the “deal” was good enough.
As for Parliament having the final say over our departure, they have already had it. They voted by about five to one to invoke A50.The European Union withdrawal bill currently due for its third reading in the Commons in a couple of weeks’ time will determine the mechanism for that withdrawal and Parliament is being allowed adequate scrutiny.
Mr Blair’s argument is specious. The referendum returned a decision to leave. Adequate (and some would say more than adequate) time was allowed for both sides to present their arguments and outline what they saw as the possible consequences. To now say that they were not given the full facts is incorrect. All the facts were provided, it was the opinions of each side which voters had to weigh up. They did so and their decision must be respected. Mr Blair seems unable yo do that.