Deputy Presiding Officer, I make this contribution first and foremost as a unionist—I do hope not as one of the last unionists. But it is time, I think, for all unionists to recognise the peril we are in. It's the greatest peace-time crisis since the Irish crisis.

The challenge is to achieve a meaningful Brexit that does not leave Scotland, and remainers in England and Wales, embittered. Only a via media can truly recognise the depth of the referendum result in all its complexity. Via media: the middle way favoured by so many Roman proverbs. I know we've had classical references earlier from the great classicist we have in this Chamber, the First Minister. Sadly, the via media on offer, a reasonable deal negotiated by the UK and the EU, has been dismissed because too many have pursued a zero-sum solution. Zero-sum outcomes cannot produce unity. Without a strong spirit of unity, no constitutional settlement is ever secure.

I have to say I agree with Stephen Kinnock MP: the deal now on offer from the EU, adapted after negotiations with the Labour frontbench, is overwhelmingly in the national interest. We should unite and accept it. The notion that somehow it's being stopped by an undemocratic backstop is preposterous. A majority of people in Northern Ireland support the backstop, as do the majority in Britain. It is only really one party that opposes it. We're told in Parliament there are barely 100 MPs that find it unacceptable. And, for this, we're going to lose a reasonable outcome and a middle way to achieve Brexit in a way that honours properly the full complexity of the referendum. It is a pitiful situation that we're in as a result of this sort of attitude. 

And 'no deal' was never offered as a serious outcome by Brexiteers in the referendum; indeed they were inclined to run a mile whenever it was mentioned. And, even if it was, in secret, their heart's desire, things have changed since 2016. The World Trade Organization—that great body now that is going to save us—the World Trade Organization is in crisis. Do any of you ever read about their current situation? Its arbitration mechanisms, the very basis of free trade, are under assault from the USA and China—about the only thing the USA and China agree on at the moment in trade. That's the peril we are in at the moment. 

The truth is that 'no deal' is a high risk strategy, but it is a high risk to be forced on the most vulnerable, and I will not be part of that. Deputy Presiding Officer, on the eve of the Peterloo massacre, 200 years ago, William Hazlitt wrote the following, which has resonated in democracies ever since:

'The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves.'

That's true for the person, for the party, for the nation. The love of power is the love of self.

In a time of crisis, we need a great generosity of heart. The last thing we should be doing is turning on our EU partners and calling them enemies. And at home—[Interruption.] And, at home, we need to interpret, bargain—yes, bargain—and adapt as circumstances demand. For, as Edmund Burke wrote:

'A statesman, never losing sight of principles, is to be guided by circumstances; and judging contrary to the exigencies of the moment he may ruin his Country for ever.'

Deputy Presiding Officer, I started as a unionist; I wish to end as a Conservative. Our party in essence was constructed in the 1920s by Stanley Baldwin. He made it a home for liberals. Over half the Liberal Party, in effect, shifted into the Conservative Party, led, of course, by Winston Churchill. For the next 95 years, we were in office for 63 of them. It's no time to drive the liberals out of the Conservative Party.