Tory Remainer Ken Clarke applauded by Labour MPs for 'shredding his own Government's hard Brexit'

Mr Clarke was praised by labour MPs

BBC

Alexandra Richards14 November 2017

Staunch Tory Remainer Ken Clarke’s speech during the EU withdrawal bill debate was met with a rapturous applause from Labour MPs.

During his speech, Mr Clarke said amending Brexit legislation to include Britain's exit date from the European Union was "ridiculous and unnecessary".

The father of the house also said it was "positively harmful to the national interest".

Labour MPs, including David Lammy, applauded Mr Clarke for "shredding his government's hard Brexit" during the Commons speech.

Mr Clarke also noted that the British Government has always been pro-EU regulation and that he was confused by the level of rejoicing over the end of regulation when Britain leaves the bloc.

But Tory Brexiteer Owen Paterson asked him to admit that regulations under the common fisheries policy had been bad for the UK.

Mr Clarke replied:"Fishermen seem to believe that if we exclude foreign ships from our waters, we can wave away all this science stuff about over fishing and we'll no longer have quotas."

He went on to say that British people liked high regulation and standards.

During his speech, Mr Clarke also called out former UKIP leader, Nigel Farage, claiming that he was the “most successful politician" of our generation for his ability to convince a high proportion of the population of the “myths” surrounding the EU’s influence on regulations in Britain.

Remain-supporting Labour MPs were quick to applaud Mr Clarke’s speech.

Labour MP for Streatham Chuka Umunna praised Mr Clarke's "tour de force against the government's amendments."

Labour MP Liz Kendall wrote: “Brilliant speech by Ken Clarke on #EUWithdrawalBill - applause and shouts of “more!” Privilege to hear it”.

David Lammy wrote: "Tour de force from Ken Clarke. Shredding his Govnt's hard Brexit. And he is absolutely right that amendment on exit day destroys any idea of a "meaningful vote" on final deal."

Conservative MP Anna Soubry described Mr Clarke’s speech as “magnificent”.