Posted on 2016-06-30 | 04:23

Speaking in his Hall Green constituency after the result of the Referendum had been declared, Roger said:

“The result has shocked many people – some are appalled while others are happy. I always said that it was going to divide families, friendships, political parties and all other groups within our society, and this is the way it turned out.

"Because the issue of the United Kingdom’s relations with the European Union had not been debated in the country for over 40 years a Referendum, proposed by the Prime Minister to try and resolve political problems in the Conservative Party, was always going to unleash emotions and pent up frustrations particularly in those communities which had hardly benefitted from globalised neoliberal policies and had suffered austerity which had seen traditional well-paid secure jobs replaced by unsecure employment at lower wages with less protection for workers; local community facilities such as libraries, sure-start centres and leisure centres run down or closed and high streets turned into ‘zombie’ shopping centres with boarded up shops and a proliferation of pound shops, pawn shops and betting shops.

"Referendums ask ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ questions. Every vote is equal and the votes, although counted locally, are aggregated nationally. Unlike representative Parliamentary democracy Members of Parliament cannot represent constituents, or take into their account competing views, because there is no vote in Parliament and the question is put directly to the people and they decide. It is up to them to decide what is the most important factor in their decision.

"So far as I was concerned I made clear before the campaign started that, on balance, I believed it would be better for the future of this country if the UK left the EU. I set out my views, and reasoning behind them, in a statement which I posted on my website and which I supplied to members of my constituency Labour Party EC and to anybody else who contacted me asking my views. Because I was taking a view which was contrary to the official Labour Party’s position I did not do any campaigning in my constituency nor did I circulate any leaflets. I was part of the ‘Labour Leave’ campaign made up entirely of Labour Party members and supporters and I did not share any platforms where I spoke with representatives of any other political party. I also gave my staff complete freedom to decide their own positions and to campaign for whichever side they supported.

"The results in the metropolitan areas of the West Midlands were all in favour of ‘leave’. In some cases the majority was large while in Birmingham it was just a few thousand votes. Of the 10 Parliamentary constituencies in Birmingham 6 voted to ‘leave’ and 4 voted to ‘remain’ (a full list of the results is set out below). So where does the result leave us?

  "In the short term nothing changes and our current relationship continues. When a new Leader of the Conservative Party is selected and takes over as Prime Minister in October, he or she, will have to decide if, and when, to trigger Article 50 which allows for a minimum of two years for negotiations between the EU and the UK to take place on how the UK exits the EU.

"A number of people have signed an on-line petition calling for a second referendum but in the absence of any new proposals to put to the people of the UK this will not, in my opinion, win support in Parliament or the country. There will however be opportunities for Parliament to lay down conditions on what the Government’s position is in the negotiation with the EU and I, personally, would not oppose the negotiated package being put to the people again in another referendum. There is precedent for this because second referendums were held in Denmark and Ireland when both countries originally rejected EU Treaties in referendums. In addition, in view of the clear majority in my constituency voting to ‘remain’ I will not be voting to trigger Article 50.

"As I have said the referendum has been highly divisive and I deplore the racist attacks which have occurred on innocent migrants and want the perpetrators pursued and brought before the Courts.

"The people have, however, made the decision and it is now incumbent on Parliament and the Government to negotiate a deal with the EU and to try and heal the wounds which have been opened in the country and to ensure that prosperity is shared by all and does not just enrich further a few already very rich people."