Brexiteer Mark Francois and left-wing commentator Ash Sarkar got into a tense row over how democracy works on Tuesday as Brexit wars spilled into the Supreme Court.
The two public figures clashed during BBC Two’s Politics Live broadcast over whether the EU referendum result in 2016 or MPs elected to parliament should decide the future of Brexit.
Holding aloft the government-funded 2016 leaflet appealing for voters to back Remain, Francois said MPs should implement the result of the referendum.
“This booklet cost £9.2m of British taxpayer money,” he said. “It went through every door in the country. And it said: this is your decision, the government will implement what you decide.”
But taunting Francois for having “brought his homework”, Sarkar said the 2017 election of a hung parliament showed people back a compromise deal.
“Either parliament is sovereign or it’s not,” the contributing editor of Novara Media repeatedly said. She added that she believed Brexit would end in another referendum.
It comes as judges at the Supreme Court began a hearing which will decide whether Boris Johnson’s shutdown of parliament in the face of Brexit on October 31 was legal.
Here is an excerpt from the testy exchange.
Francois: In the referendum, the British people voted very clearly to leave the EU and you have well over 300 MPs who have never accepted that decision, never want us to leave under any circumstances whatsoever and have spent 3 years doing everything they can to frustrate the decision of the people. That is the absolute heart of the matter.
Sarkar: I love this song too and I have heard you play it multiple times.
Francois: It’s true.
Sarkar: I think there are many issues at hand. There is a tension between direct democracy and representative democracy and that is a grey area that has never been sorted out by any government, and that is a huge part of why we are where we are.
Francois, taking out leaflet: Do you remember this? This is the booklet that went through every door.
Sarkar: I love that you have come prepared. Oh my God. He brought his homework.
Francois: I take you seriously. This booklet cost £9.2m of British taxpayer money. It went through every door in the country before the referendum. And it said on the last page, this is clear English: this is your decision, the government will implement what you decide.It said on the final page . This is once in a generation decision. The government will implement what you decide.
Sarkar tries to interrupt ...
Francois: I will finish my homework as you so kindly put it. This is the decision that the British people were allowed to take, and people like you will never accept it.
Sarkar: Won’t I. I voted to Remain but I also thought that a soft Brexit compromise was legitimate because you’re right that people voted to leave. I see your leaflet and I raise you the principle of parliamentary sovereignty. It is in the hands of parliament to put together a deal. But look if you are saying parliamentary sovereignty is drawn from the electorate which I agree with, it means you have to accept that the electorate elected a hung parliament in 2017, which is a mandate for compromise.