Brexit bill: MPs overwhelmingly reject Lords changes

MPs have overwhelmingly voted to overturn amendments to the Brexit bill made by peers and send the landmark legislation back to the House of Lords.

They rejected calls for the government to protect the status of EU nationals within three months of the start of Brexit talks by 335 votes to 287.

They then dismissed calls for Parliament to have a meaningful vote on any Brexit deal by 331 to 286 votes.
The EU Withdrawal Bill will be passed later if the Lords back down.

Labour peers have said they will not vote to reinsert the provisions, making a prolonged period of what is known as “ping-pong” between the elected chamber and its unelected counterpart much less likely.

Both Houses of Parliament have to agree the text of the bill before it can be sent for Royal Assent and become law. Prime Minister Theresa May could then theoretically trigger Article 50, which formally starts the Brexit process, as early as Tuesday.

However, Downing Street sources have said this will not happen this week and the PM is expected to wait until the end of the month to officially notify the EU of the UK’s intention to leave.

Only two Tory MPs – Tania Mathias and Alex Chalk – defied the government over the issue of EU nationals as the government won the first vote comfortably. There were no rebels in the second vote although about ten Tories are believed to have abstained.

After reversing the Lords changes, the bill will pass back to peers to decide whether they want to go against the government’s plans again.

The bill travels back and forth between the two chambers until both sides agree – Parliament could sit through the night to try to reach an agreement, and time has also been set aside on Tuesday and Wednesday.

But the BBC’s political correspondent Vicki Young said she did not expect peers to try to block the bill any further and this meant it would all be “done and dusted by midnight” on Monday.

‘Quick deal’

Opening Monday’s Commons debate, Brexit Secretary David Davis said MPs had already approved the bill “without any strings attached” and putting it into law “without further delay” would enable the negotiations to begin.

He said the government was committed to a “quick deal” on the rights of EU residents, but insisted guarantees must be reciprocal. Parliament, he added, would have many opportunities to scrutinise and vote on key issues during the “long democratic process” of EU withdrawal.

He repeated the government’s verbal assurances that both Houses would have a vote on any Brexit deal, but warned that while the Lords amendment “has been badged as a meaningful vote, the reality is there are some who would seek to use this to overturn the result of the referendum”.

“We will not have anything that will put the intention to leave the EU in doubt,” he told MPs.

But he was pressed by a number of Tory MPs over the exact nature of the parliamentary vote they’ve been promised. Former minister Anna Soubry said it was “perverse” that if the UK and EU were not able to agree a deal at all, that Parliament would not be “entitled” to pass its judgement.

“I would urge the government, for the sake of bringing unity to the country at large, that they allow Parliament’s sovereignty to reign and in the event of no deal we have a vote and a say,” she said.

‘Shameful‘

For Labour, shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer said there was a “compelling case” to give EU residents the certainty they deserved right now.

“Labour supports this amendment not only because it is the right thing do in principle but passing it tonight would set the right tone ahead of the negotiations,” he said.

Former Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg accused ministers of “shameful inaction” on the issue, while Green Party leader Caroline Lucas said MPs “were not elected to be lemmings” in the Brexit process.

The SNP’s Stephen Gethins said the question of the future of EU residents “went to the heart of what kind of country we want to be” and warned MPs not to hand the government a “blank cheque” in upcoming talks.

“I am not sure I would trust this government to run a bath or a bidet let alone a very complex set of negotiations,” he added.

Mrs May has said Parliament will get a vote, but some MPs and peers want a stronger commitment to give them a more “meaningful” say – and to be able to potentially send her back to the negotiating table in Brussels.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told ITV’s Peston on Sunday that “no deal” would be “perfectly OK”, and the consequences were not “as apocalyptic as some people like to pretend”.

Mrs May has said she would rather take the UK out of the EU with no deal rather than a “bad deal”.

No deal would result in trade rules defaulting to World Trade Organisation standards, meaning the UK and EU would be obliged to apply to each other the tariffs and other trade restrictions they apply to the rest of the world.

Source: BBC