Webchat with Anna Soubry on Brexit and beyond - Tuesday 22 January at 10.30am

[BojanaMumsnet]

Hello

We’re pleased to announce a webchat with Anna Soubry MP to discuss all things Brexit. Anna was a Remain campaigner and currently supports calls for a second referendum. Anna made headlines a couple of weeks ago when she was harassed outside Parliament and urged the police to take more action.

Anna has been the Conservative MP for Broxtowe since the 2010 General Election. After more than a year attending Cabinet as Minister of State for Small Business, Anna chose to return to the backbenches in July 2016, be able to represent her views on the “positive benefits of immigration and the EU.”

Please do join the chat on Tuesday at 10.30am, or if you can’t make it, leave a question here in advance.

We’re expecting this to be a busy webchat, so only existing Mumsnet users are able to post on this thread.

As always, please remember our webchat guidelines - one question per user, follow-ups only if there’s time and most questions have been answered and please keep it civil. Also if one topic is overwhelmingly dominating a discussion with a guest, mods might request that people don't continue to post what's effectively the same question or point. Rest assured we will ALWAYS let the guest know that it's an area of concern to multiple users and will encourage them to engage with those questions.

And finally - we did have a pro-Brexit webchat guest lined up for this week (Jacob Rees Mogg) but they cancelled on us so we’re trying to line up a replacement as we speak.

Many thanks.

The official portrait of Anna Soubry is used under an Attribution 3.0 Unported licence - image may be cropped for purpose.

Hi Anna

My husband recently accosted you on a train back into Nottingham and started chatting to you about brexit when you were trying to relax. Sorry about that . My one question is do you think there will be an extension given that it is being widely reported that there is not enough parliamentary time left to pass the legislation and statutory instruments necessary for us to leave on 29th March?

Thank you for the stance you are taking. Politicians have a duty to do what is right for the country as a whole even where it might be more self serving for them to stick with the line that they must follow the "wishes of the people".

Quick second question, when do you think the Governments own impact assessments will be made public in their entirety ? and how do you feel about the use of NDA's being utilised by the Government to prevent proper discourse on the downsides of Brexit ?

Oops sorry, that is actually another two questions, but I think they are important

Thank you for coming on
How do you think we are going to come together as a country after all the bitterness and divided thoughts on Brexit ?

test

Hi Anna- very encouraging that you are reaching out to everyone on here at an early stage.

No last minute reaching out for you! I can't add to all the excellent questions but just want to add huge thanks for your grit, bravery, logic and common sense.

Since Cold asked a slightly different question I'll ask the normal one.

What is your favourite biscuit and will you be buying extras before the end of March stockpiling it ?

Hi
I was waiting for my British Citizenship at the time of the last vote and two of my children have since turned 18. So, 3 more votes for remain here!

My question is quite serious and something I never thought I'd have to ask.....How can you and the Peoples' Vote Labour MPs ensure that Brexit can be stopped without letting Corbyn into Number 10. We are Jewish and this country would be unsafe for us. I feel so sorry for the abuse you have received from both the the far right (and let's be clear, the far left too). If Corbyn's cult had power in RL and not just on keyboards, my family and 250,000 more would start packing. Sane Labour has been too spineless to split!
How can you ensure this won't happen?

We are Jewish and this country would be unsafe for us.

Please know that you would be entirely safe under Corbyn's leadership. Only the MSM wants you to think otherwise. Labour still has thousands of supporters in the Jewish community, and all are welcome at Party events.

Hi Anna,
Thank you for coming and for the pure grit you have shown in recent weeks.
I too would like to make my question about why you have said you will not back the Labour amendment that includes the second referendum as you have backed the People's Vote campaign for many months now.
I've been campaigning for Labour since I was about 5!! But resigned my membership in the last year and struggling to find my place politically. There are many of us in the centre-ish feeling homeless!

A misled bigot here - do you think that uncontrolled low/no wage immigration has benefited local native populations in terms of access to/quality of education, healthcare, community cohesion, employment or is it just good for business?

A misled bigot here - do you think that uncontrolled low/no wage immigration has benefited local native populations in terms of access to/quality of education, healthcare, community cohesion, employment or is it just good for business

@misledbigot

I'm furrin but 2 of my 3 children were born here and their dad is "native" which of the3 count as native and which should go home?

TIA

Anna is in the building and will get started in a minute...

Hello Anna

What do you think the average powerless person on the street can do to best support the efforts to avoid leaving the EU without a deal?

Many thanks
Thegirlinthefireplace

Hello my name is Anna Soubry and I'm looking forward to taking all of your questions, however tricky. Ask me anything.

@reallybadidea

Anna, realistically what do you think is the best possible outcome regarding Brexit and what should MPs be doing to achieve this?

I genuinely believe that for a variety of reasons the best outcome is to take this back to the British people and let them have a final say on Brexit now we know what it looks like.

Hi Anna :) looking forward to reading this, I've already asked my question, but wanted you to know there are people here reading.

@FATEdestiny

You are my MP. I voted for you and I voted for Remain. But, as you are aware, a majority in Broxtowe voted for Leave, 45.4% to 54.6%

I am torn by the fact that I cannot turn my back on democratic decision. I "won" the election, in that conservatives won. But I "lost" the referendum and Vote Leave won. While I don't like this, I accept it as democratic.

How do you justify the fact that your constituency voted Leave and you are not representing them in that vote?

(I cannot accept the argument that we did not have the facts when voting in the referendum - although that is totally true. Often in general elections, manifesto promises are not met and figures massaged. If we start a precedent that we can discount a vote on the basis that campaign facts were untrue, this will have significant effects on general elections)

First of all, it's always good to hear from a constituent. The result was actually for the borough of Broxtowe which as you know is bigger than the constituency, as it includes Eastwood. But I don't doubt that somewhere around 51, 512% of my constituents voted leave in 2016. As your MP, I'm elected to represent all my constituents however they voted in what was a national referendum. I want to make it clear that I am not trying to stop Brexit - I just want people to have a final say.

(and that we aren't all hard Brexiteers come to bash you over the head)

Waves at Anna, thanks for doing this.

We're sheep farmers. The uncertainty is ruining the industry. Do you care about the agriculture sector at all?

I believe there are many MPs that re completely of the belief that stopping Brexit altogether is the o lot sensible option, but almost no one is actually saying it.

Do you think this type of game playing and refusal to speak openly and honestly is part of why e are in the mess we are in now?

I'm hoping for an answer.

@vanitythynameisnotwoman

Hi Anna, Thank you for coming and for the pure grit you have shown in recent weeks. I too would like to make my question about why you have said you will not back the Labour amendment that includes the second referendum as you have backed the People's Vote campaign for many months now. I've been campaigning for Labour since I was about 5!! But resigned my membership in the last year and struggling to find my place politically. There are many of us in the centre-ish feeling homeless!

There are two things.
First, I don't agree with the first part of the labour amendment and secondly I want a vote on the people's vote and I don't think Jeremy and his front bench have truly got to that place yet.

@horsemadmom

Hi I was waiting for my British Citizenship at the time of the last vote and two of my children have since turned 18. So, 3 more votes for remain here!

My question is quite serious and something I never thought I'd have to ask.....How can you and the Peoples' Vote Labour MPs ensure that Brexit can be stopped without letting Corbyn into Number 10. We are Jewish and this country would be unsafe for us. I feel so sorry for the abuse you have received from both the the far right (and let's be clear, the far left too). If Corbyn's cult had power in RL and not just on keyboards, my family and 250,000 more would start packing. Sane Labour has been too spineless to split!
How can you ensure this won't happen?

I'm really sorry about the abuse you face and I understand why so many Jewish people feel so threatened, with the current climate in the Labour Party, which is totally unacceptable. A People's Vote and ensuring Jeremy Corbyn doesn't get into power are not incompatible.