Wrexham MP speaks of no-deal Brexit concerns and future political landscape ahead of crunch week in Parliament

Wrexham’s MP Ian Lucas has spoken of his concerns of the “chaos” that a No Deal Brexit could cause the UK and his constituents.

MPs from all parties are preparing for what looks set to be a crunch week in Parliament, with opposition parties and those against no-deal set to attempt to pass legislation to block the UK leaving the European Union without a deal at the end of October.

There are also murmurings that attempts to call yet another general election could be made as early as this week.

With MPs returning to the House of Commons tomorrow, attempts are set to be made by opposition MPs and Conservative rebels to delay Brexit until the end of January 2020 if a deal cannot be secured.

Speaking about how he plans on voting this week, Mr Lucas said he is “not prepared to judge and make judgments on the basis of what’s in my best interest. It’s in the interest of the people that I represent.”

He continued: “I’ve tried throughout this to respect the result that took place in 2016. But at the same time, recognise that is a very divided community, and therefore trying to accommodate the middle position, because I think we need to stay very close to the EU.

“If we leave, then it is possible to have a relationship like Norway does with the EU, which is quite close. But which does mean you’re outside the EU. But that position seems to have passed.

“What we’re in the moment is a dialogue between no dealers who just want to leave whatever happens and people do want to remain part of the EU.

“As far as I am concerned I am not going to vote for anything that is not in the best interests of people I represent.

“I’ll make my own judgement. But that won’t be driven by the numbers, it won’t be driven by impact that’s going to have in a general election, be driven by the impact of what I think is right.”

He also echoed concerns from other MPs opposed to no-deal, branding it “totally unacceptable” and something that he believes will lead to chaos.

Asked about how he thinks no-deal would affect residents across Wrexham, Mr Lucas said he felt that it would leave them “worse off”.

“I think there would be direct impacts very quickly on people’s lives,” he added.

“In terms of what they see in the supermarkets, it may affect what drugs are available if they have health problems. These are real practical problems that are going to affect them.

“There’s a very strong feeling that everyone wants this to be over and it will be alright on the night. But I have a responsibility to actually address the real concerns that will affect my constituent’s lives.

“I am going to do that and obviously the consequences will be for me to bear in due course.”

He added: “People have to realise if we do leave without a deal, that’s the beginning of the process, not the end. So the idea that this is going to end after the 31st of October is a fantasy, in fact, it is a lie.

“Because we will then have to work out what our relationship is going to be with some of our biggest trading partners. And that’s the type of process that is complex and takes many years to resolve.

“So if people think that they’re going to resolve matters by leaving the European Union on the 31st of October, they are being very badly misled.”

Earlier this year Mr Lucas came under fire after a tweeting the below – which came in response to his initial comments: “I represent all in Wrexham, however they vote. I will continue to exercise my judgement and will be accountable for it on due course. Abuse and threats will not influence me.”

You thought wrong. https://t.co/Uw8JI61lhL

— Ian Lucas MP (@IanCLucas) March 15, 2019

The debate over whether MPs are elected to represent the majority or all members of their constituency, regardless of who and how they vote, is one that has become more prominent in the years since the referendum.

During the 2016 referendum Mr Lucas campaigned to remain in the European Union, but was amongst those who voted to trigger the Article 50 process in February 2017.

We asked Mr Lucas if it the role of an MP is to represent the majority of voters – such as the 41,544 who voted to leave the EU – or all constituents, despite how they vote.

“My job is to represent everybody in the constituency, which is why I am not simply in a position of disregarding the substantial minority who in 2016 voted to remain,” he explained.

“Equally, I don’t disregard the substantial majority who voted leave. I’ve respected that by voting for Article 50 and to initiate the process of leaving.

“People know that my position was that I didn’t want to leave the EU first place. But I voted to trigger Article 50 as I respect the views of the majority if people in Wrexham.

“This has been a Conservative policy from the outset. The Conservative government has been in place since 2015. They have been unable to secure what they promised at the election, whilst they’ve been in government.

“So the responsibility rests with the Conservative government. And they have been they failed to deliver Brexit, despite the fact that people like me have voted for it at different times.”

In July Wrexham.com reported that Mr Lucas had echoed his party leader’s position, that a second EU referendum should be held in certain circumstances.

Asked today if Mr Lucas would back a second referendum of some sorts, he said: “I think the arrangement has got to go back to the public, if there is an immediate election, then we’re in a situation where there is no deal is on the table.

“I think whatever proposal is put forward by the government at this point, three years after the referendum, there needs to be consent from the public. We have got to get that somehow.”

With the divisions in politics becoming wider and more strained, we also asked what Mr Lucas thought about the future of the political landscape and if the major parties in particular could recover from the antics of the past few years.

He said: “It’s very distressing to hear the tone of some of the debate we hear on this, which is abusive, aggressive, un-comradely which I find very upsetting.

“I think it will take time to resolve I think we desperately need leadership that brings the country together.

“Unfortunately, we’ve got a very polarised political environment at the minute so it’s difficult to see how in the medium term, this is going to change.

“But I think with a different government the whole playing field could change very quickly.”

He also raised concerns about the role targeted advertising now plays in politics and has called for Dominic Cummings – a key figure in Vote Leave who is now a special advisor to the prime minister – to attend the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee and “purge his contempt of Parliament” to answer questions.

Mr Lucas said he has written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Michael Gove, however has yet to receive any response.

With Facebook and social media advertising now playing such a key role in how politicians can target potential voters with their messages, we asked what he would like to the government do to make the process more transparent in terms of who is funding them and why users are being targeted.

“I think what is what is so insidious about the adverts is that they targeted particular individuals, that generally the only people who see them are the people who agree with them.

“The key task for people running the campaigns is to identify who those people are, and then reinforce their views, and entrench their views

“So what we’re losing is a public space in which to debate and there’s no forum to debate matters now because everybody’s entrenched in their views – and they’re being reinforced by messages.

“What we have is echo chambers that exists the whole time reinforcing people’s views.

“I’d like it to be more transparent. Sometimes I wonder whether we should ban targeted advertising in a political campaign and instead create a site where proper political debate happens.

“I think we should be having a debate about whether we really want this type of top of the advertising the hammer.

“I’m not sure it’s in the public interest and I think that people need to wake up to the fact that it’s being used the whole time.”