Andrew Lloyd Webber tells peers not to ‘overrule the will of the people’ as Lords debates amendments to Article 50 Bill
The Conservative peer and composer said he would be in Parliament to vote through against the amendments this week
COMPOSER Andrew Lloyd Webber has warned Peers not to "frustrate the will of the people" and encouraged them not to accept amendments in the Article 50 Bill.
The Tory peer - who has a number of Broadway musicals on the go - said he would be in Parliament this week to make sure the Bill is passed unamended.
A spokesperson for Lord Lloyd-Webber told : "Even those he was a Remainer he is going to vote with the Government because he feels very strongly that an un-elected House of Lords should not overrule the will of the people."
Remainer Baroness Brady is also set to vote with her party to ensure the Bill passes smoothly.
Lords are currently discussing a number of amendments to the legislation after MPs overwhelmingly voted to put the Bill through with no alterations at all.
Former Deputy PM Lord Heseltine is set to vote against the three-line whip this week to try and secure a "meaningful" final vote for Parliament on a Brexit deal.
He told the Mail on Sunday yesterday that Parliament and not the people have the “rightful constitutional role as the ultimate authority.”
Today he has faced calls to be sacked over his role as a Government adviser.
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Peers are also mulling over amendments to guarantee the right of EU citizens in the UK to stay after Brexit, and to force Mrs May to keep an open border between Northern and Southern Ireland.
No10 is braced for a week of “ping-pong”, where the Lords will send the Bill back to the Commons to urge them to think again.
Today former minister Lord Hain said that Brexit could cause "profound damage" to the Northern Ireland peace process.
He urged ministers to back his amendment, stressing that it only seeks to lay down in law what Theresa May has already committed to verbally.
An amendment on forcing the UK to remain within the European Economic Area and Single Market was not pushed through to a vote.
Tory former minister Lord Blencathra said blocking Brexit would be a "betrayal" of all the people who voted to leave the EU in last year's referendum.
Lord Blencathra said that if the UK was in the EEA it would be still, in effect, in the EU with all the regulations still applying "lock, stock and barrel".