Miliband, Clegg and Pro-EU Tories Join Forces to Keep Britain’s Borders Open

The former Labour and Liberal Democrat leaders are leading a cross-party push to give Parliament a final say on the ‘Breixt deal’, specifically keeping the UK in the Single Market and subject to unlimited mass migration.

Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg and a coalition of SNP, Green, and Tory MPs argue that the British people only voted to leave the EU, and that Parliament should remain sovereign over the issues of the single market and immigration.

Speaking on BBC News on Monday morning, Mr. Miliband said there is “not a mandate for a hard-Brexit” and the people “didn’t vote for a particular type of Brexit, and there are lots of decision to be made on immigration, the economy, and the single market.”

“Parliament’s got to take a view on that to give the government a mandate for the negotiations,” he added.

'The Gov't should set out its position in a white paper'
– Ed Miliband calls for vote in commons on #Brexit plans https://t.co/0wgTldikXK

— Victoria Derbyshire (@VictoriaLIVE) October 10, 2016

Mr. Miliband, Mr. Clegg and many of the MPs in the coalition are against the UK leaving the Single Market, and only this morning EU leaders once again insisted that retaining free trade in the Single Market must include keeping Britain’s borders open.

Furthermore, around 62 per cent of all MPs and 78 per cent of the cabinet backed remaining in the EU, so it is unlikely that the legislature as a whole will vote for a hard Brexit and to leave the Single Market.

Analysis of the campaign showed that immigration was the foremost issue pushing the British public into voting for Brexit.

However, Mr. Miliband claimed he “accepts the result of this referendum” and his plan is “not about trying to reverse the result through Parliament” but “see[ing] the best outcome for [voters] given what they voted for”.

He said it is an “open question” if “the government has a right” or the “authority” to deliver the “will of the people” without a Parliamentary vote.

If Parliament turned down government plans for Brexit, they would have to “come back with a different… strategy”, he said.