'Sign your own death warrant' Furious Theresa May DARES Lords to vote down Article 50
THERESA May has belittled peers in the House of Lords, claiming they will be signing their own “death warrant” if they dare to defy the will of the people by voting not to trigger Article 50.
Ahead of the Supreme Court appeal - starting Monday - against the High Court’s decision that Parliament must pass a vote before the Prime Minister can trigger Article 50, Theresa May has come out fighting.
Mrs May insists any attempt made by pro-Remain peers in the House of Lords to block Brexit will lead to the demise of the second chamber.
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If the Lords were seen to be frustrating the will of the people to an extent, it might well be the case that they are signing their own death warrant
A Downing Street minister insisted the Prime Minister is confident the Lords “would not dare” vote down Article 50 - thereby blocking the result of the EU referendum.
The minister said: “If the Lords were seen to be frustrating the will of the people to an extent, it might well be the case that they are signing their own death warrant.”
“You could be talking about the Lords disappearing in its current form. They’ve manage to avoid abolition now for quite a long time.”
Although the Government’s rhetoric appears to suggest it is anticipating defeat in its appeal, it nevertheless shows ministers are unwilling to bow down to pressure from Remoaners.
A source close to the Prime Minister told The Telegraph: “Theresa has made clear that the people bringing this legal action over Article 50 must not be allowed to thwart the will of the people.
“She will take exactly the same approach in the Commons when she addresses MPs.”
In an effort to stop the Lords from tabling a long list of amendments to Article 50, Tory whips are said to have drafted a simplified Article 50 Act, which peers will not be able to claim promotes a “hard” Brexit.
Iain Duncan Smith, the former work and pensions secretary and senior Leave campaigner, said he was confident Theresa May will be able to stick to her schedule of invoking Article 50 by May next year.
He said: “It's a very narrow and tight bill, it's very difficult to amend. It will get through the Commons pretty quickly. We can be in and out of this very quickly and get on with triggering Article 50.
“You could have 24 hour sittings to get it through. There's no question in my mind she will invoke Article 50 by the end of March. I'm pretty optimistic.
“It's already drafted, everything will be cancelled until it gets through both houses.”
