Matt Hancock: Conservative Party "Straining Every Sinew" To Deliver Brexit

20 May 2019, 10:00 | Updated: 20 May 2019, 10:08

Matt Hancock tells LBC the Conservative Party is "straining every sinew" to deliver Brexit.

The Health Secretary told Nick Ferrari that the vote on the Withdrawal Agreement Bill is a "binary vote" on whether or not MPs want to deliver Brexit.

Mr Hancock said: "I think that we must deliver Brexit because we live in a democracy."

"There has obviously been this massive debate about what the detail of [leaving] should be but ultimately when we have the chance to vote on the Withdrawal Agreement Bill, that is a binary vote on do you want to deliver Brexit or not.

But when Nick told him he'd struggle to do that before the European elections on Thursday, he said: "My argument for people on Thursday is the Conservative Party is straining every sinew to deliver Brexit and to do that in Parliament.

"The Brexit Party are a party of protest, rather than a party of actually getting stuff done."

But pressed on Remainer Tories like Dominic Grieve, Mr Hancock said: "The vast majority of us are and we need to get it over the line.

"If you want to leave the European Union, and deliver on the referendum result but don't agree with all of the detail, then the chance to have that debate is in the stages of the bill when we go through line by line."

Former Brexit Secretary David Davis told LBC he would not vote for the Bill at its second reading next month.

The Tory Brexiteer said he would not vote in its support because it would 'create the platform' for the possibility of adding a second referendum 'in law'.

And Labour and Lib Dem Remainers have said they will vote down any agreement unless it included a second referendum, with liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable saying his party has "made very clear we would support [the bill] provided it is subject to a confirmatory vote".

The second reading on the Withdrawal Agreement Bill, the legislation to implement Theresa May's Brexit deal, is due to take place next month.