Plaid Cymru’s Leader in Westminster, Liz Saville Roberts MP, confronted the Prime Minister in the House of Commons today over her claims of respecting the result of the 1997 referendum on Welsh devolution.
Ms Saville Roberts questioned the Prime Minister during a Statement in the House of Commons on the latest Brexit developments.
Following the Prime Minister’s speech in Stoke-on-Trent this morning where she compared the Leave campaign’s narrow win in the 2016 Brexit referendum devolution, Wales, Westminster, to the result of the 1997 referendum when the people of Wales voted for the National Assembly for Wales.
During the statement, Liz Saville Roberts said:
“The Prime Minister commands us to honour the result of the referendum.
“Yet, in 1997 she voted against legislation to establish the National Assembly for Wales and in 2005 stood on a manifesto calling for another referendum with the option to overturn the result.
“How does the Prime Minister square her track record on referendums with such command?”
The Prime Minister responded by saying:
“We respect and made clear at the time we respected it, and anybody who sees the Welsh Assembly today and what it has been doing in recent years will recognise that was the right decision.”
Following the exchange, Ms Saville Roberts raised a Point of Order – a question to the Speaker regarding procedure in Parliament – in the House of Commons, asking for clarification. In the Point of Order, Ms Saville Roberts said:
“The PM responded to my question by saying: ‘we accept the result of the referendum in Wales. We respected and made clear at the time that we respected the result of the referendum in Wales.’
“Her actions and the actions of her party at the time, and later, contradict this assertion.
“I fear the PM has mislead the house and would ask how she might correct the record.”
The Prime Minister left the chamber before listening to the Point of Order and so did not respond.
ENDS
No comments:
Post a Comment