Why we, as Labour MPs, will vote against an early election

This is the most perilous week in our country’s recent peacetime history. We have a prime minister prepared to pursue a no-deal Brexit that wasn’t even contemplated by the Leave campaign he led during the 2016 EU referendum. In fact, the Leave campaign said securing a deal with the EU would be one of the easiest in history.

In order to prevent this, parliament is prepared to vote for, and pass legislation to take a no-deal Brexit off the table. In retaliation, the prime minister is prepared to push for a general election if the legislation is passed.

The proposed legislation is imperative. A general election at this stage is not. And we will not vote for it. Parliament’s focus should be on stopping the prime minister’s no-deal posturing and force him to do some serious negotiating with the EU on a Brexit deal.

To hold an election campaign now would use up most of the few weeks we have left before 31 October, time the government should be using to deliver a Brexit deal. If the prime minister is serious about negotiating with the EU, he should get on with it. If he doesn’t, can’t, or refuses to, the only conclusion we can draw is that he wants a no-deal Brexit.

We believe a general election will not resolve Brexit. It is in the nature of elections to start off as one thing and end up as another. The campaign will conflate many issues without adequately addressing the one which has dominated our country for the last three and half years.

That is not fair on our country or our people. Brexit will poison the election debate, when the United Kingdom should be deciding on a five-year action plan for the nation’s future. That is why we need to resolve Brexit before going back to the people in a general election.

Whoever wins the election, will not at that stage be able to clarify what Brexit will look like because negotiations will not have concluded. Brexit will remain unresolved. And of course, we could end up back in the gridlock of a hung parliament. Surely the time to have a national ballot is after we know exactly what has been negotiated with the EU.

We agree Brexit should be put before the British people, but as a standalone issue. That’s how it was proposed in 2016. And that’s how it should be proposed now.

Any deal negotiated with the EU should be put to the British people in a confirmatory ballot, not a general election. We have promoted this resolution before, which became known as the Kyle-Wilson Compromise.

The vote must be final because the electorate will have either voted for the negotiated deal, which would then be implemented, or they will have voted to remain. This approach sinks the Brexit argument of a “neverendum”.

We believe this approach will mean the country can move on. Both sides of the argument will know the people will have had the opportunity to compare the Brexit facts with what they were promised over three years ago. They may decide to go ahead with Brexit on the known terms, or they may change their minds. Which we believe, in a democracy, is allowable. After all, if the Brexit elite can change their mind on no deal, the British people have the right to change theirs.

Only then should a general election be called so policy around the economy, education, the NHS and the other issues that are not being adequately addressed can be debated free of Brexit that has poisoned our national discourse.

We strongly believe that the national interest must come before party and we will act accordingly. Brexit resolution first, general election second.

Phil Wilson is Labour MP for Sedgefield; Peter Kyle is Labour MP for Hove and Portslade