“A vote that realigns the British Parliament with the referendum result of 23 June that started the Brexit, but is perilous for democracy”. Catholic Clifford Longley, former religious correspondent for “The Times” and “The Daily Telegraph” and now a contributing editor for “The Tablet” magazine, expressed his disappointment with the decision by Westminster which, by 494 votes to 122, authorised Prime Minister Theresa May to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty which will start the divorce with the European Union. “I would have preferred our MPs to come to a conscious approval”, Mr Longley explained. “Instead, two in three members of the House of Commons do not believe that Brexit is a good idea, but had no choice. They were forced by the right-wing press and a group of Europhobic politicians to say yes. Mr Longley described the victory of PM May, who was given the go-ahead, with no need for another vote in the Commons on the terms of the agreement she hopes to negotiate with Brussels, “a rather unhealthy situation, surely not a triumph for the British democracy”. “Referendums are easily exploited by populism, as we saw on 23 June, when those voting for Brexit chose the facts to which they wanted to believe, forgetting that we need Europe and Europe needs us, and this is all the more true in light of what is happening in the United States”, Mr Longley concluded.