Another EU Statement by the PM and no more concessions from the EU. Not a promising start to our final week before Christmas. At 1530, Mrs May returned to the Chamber, following her attempts last week to seek concessions in Europe on the Withdrawal Bill that she pulled recently for fear of losing the vote. Mrs May told the House that she had received verbal assurances that the so-called 'backstop' would not need to be triggered. This backstop is bad news, in that in keeps us in the EU in all but name in perpetuity. And that from our Attorney General. Mrs May added that EU leaders had told her that they do not want to use this backstop. However, the problem is the Political Declaration, a few pages long, and ambiguous to the point of being meaningless, it provides plenty of room for the EU to out-manoeuvre us in areas like fishing and Gibraltar. And until a deal is signed - if ever - the UK has to remain in the backstop, governed by EU rules and regulations and putting at risk our ability to strike trade deals with other countries. Let's not forget, this deal is one the EU has cooked up, not us. We are merely responding to EU demands, having ignored all our red lines, so boldly and correctly laid out by Mrs May at the start of all this. I did catch the Speaker's eye and sought assurance that the UK would leave the EU on 29 March next year (see website). The problem is that trust has broken down and I'm afraid I just do not trust the Executive, Government or many colleagues around the House, who continue to do their best to stop Brexit. It's the people against the politicians and that's not a healthy place to be in, as the former are our masters, not the other way round. Mrs May did clarify when the so-called Meaningful Vote would return to the House: the week commencing 7 January, with a vote the following week. Mrs May was firm on calls for another referendum. She told MPs: "Another vote which would do irreparable damage to the integrity of our politics, because it would say to the millions who trusted in democracy, that our democracy does not deliver. Another vote which would likely leave us no further forward than the last. Another vote which would further divide our country at the very moment we should be working to unite it." On this, I concur 100 per cent.