MPs defy British PM in Brexit vote
Lawmakers get veto power on final divorce treaty in ‘humiliating loss’ for May
LONDON— U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May suffered a serious defeat for her key Brexit law on Wednesday after pro-European lawmakers in her own party defied her orders in a vote in Parliament. Lawmakers voted 309-305 to change the government’s bill so that it guarantees Parliament will get a “meaningful vote” on the final Brexit deal at the end of negotiations in 2019.
It’s an embarrassing setback for May the day before she heads to a European summit that was set to be a celebration of the breakthrough deal she clinched last week. It also raises questions about whether she can muster a majority in Parliament that backs her vision of Brexit. Lawmakers in London will now have the power to veto the withdrawal treaty before the U.K. leaves the EU if they do not like the terms of the agreement. Another rebellion looms next week over an amendment that could attract even more rebel backing.
It’s a blow to May’s authority, after she made a personal plea in Parliament for colleagues to support her. Ministers spent the day proposing concessions aimed at buying off rebels, including a last-minute offer to come back with a new text. That was met with cries of “too late” in the chamber.
“Theresa May stays, but she stays in a very weak position. She can’t control a significant portion of her own parliamentary party,” said Wyn Grant, professor of Politics at Warwick University. “It gives Remainers greater confidence and pushes the possibility of a no-deal scenario even further away. It’s the final blow for that kind of scenario.”
The government was quick to show it doesn’t take kindly to rebellion. Tory lawmaker Stephen Hammond was fired as Conservative Party vicechairman after voting in favour of the
“It stops the government doing something the government should not be doing.” DOMINIC GRIEVE FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL
amendment, according to a person familiar with the matter.
“Tonight, I put country and constituency before party and voted with my principles to give Parliament a meaningful vote,” Hammond tweeted, adding he was “very disappointed” to no longer be his party’s vicechairman. The amendment was put forward by former attorney general Dominic Grieve, a hitherto loyal Conservative with impeccable establishment credentials and a fierce grip on bureaucratic detail. He also used to be a cabinet colleague of May.
He argued the bill gave the government too much power and shut Parliament out.
“It stops the government doing something the government should not be doing,” Grieve said. He also rejected the government’s last-ditch effort to placate rebels as too late.
The government’s bill would otherwise give May “a blank cheque” to take Britain out of the EU on terms that are not yet clear, he said.
The Conservative Party has long been divided over Europe and the referendum on Brexit in some way aimed to settle the argument for good. Instead, it’s more divided than ever, with some of those who campaigned for Remain taking the government to task on a regular basis.
May lost her parliamentary majority in June, making her more vulnerable to rebellions by lawmakers who reject her policy of seeking a clean break with Europe and leaving its single market and customs union.
The group of rebels was branded the “mutineers” by the Brexit-back- ing Daily Telegraph — in a front-page splash with all their photos — a move that, if anything, emboldened them.
“Voting against my government saddens me greatly but Parliament has to stand up for itself and take control of the EU withdrawal process and that is why I supported Parliament having a meaningful final vote,” Nicky Morgan, a former minister who’s now a high-profile Brexit rebel, told Bloomberg.
Labour wasted no time in taking advantage of the result.
“This defeat is a humiliating loss of authority for the government on the eve of the European Council meeting,” Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn said.
May had promised that lawmakers would be given a vote on the final deal before it’s too late but stopped short of writing her commitment into the text of the draft law — the key demand of the rebels seeking to soften her Brexit stance.