Peers demand ‘meaningful vote’
lengthy debate in the House of Lords on ongoing divorce talks with the European Union.
Brexit Minister Lord Callanan argued that the Labour motion, supported by the Liberal Democrats, sought ‘‘to tie the Government’s hands in negotiations’’.
‘‘We cannot support a motion which mentions ‘all steps necessary’ to avoid a no-deal, without excluding no Brexit from the list of necessary steps,’’ he said.
But Labour’s leader in the Lords, Baroness Smith of Basildon, urged the government to ‘‘stop dragging its feet, commit to asking for more time, and rule out the most disastrous of all outcomes – a no-deal Brexit’’.
Accusing May of trying to ‘‘run down the clock’’ and force a decision between her deal and nodeal, she said: ‘‘It is only by securing a binding vote for MPS that they can apply the brakes before we career over a cliff edge.’’
Meanwhile, more than 40 former British ambassadors have called on May to extend Britain’s stay in the EU, accusing her of presiding over a ‘‘national crisis’’.
In a statement to The Times, the diplomats warned that the prime minister’s present policy was not completing Brexit but laying the path to years of ‘‘negotiation and renegotiation’’ with the bloc. They said Britain’s national interest would be better served by extending the Article 50 process to provide time to clarify the terms of the future relationship or allow for a second referendum.
The group includes former ambassadors to the United States, France and Russia alongside the former head of the foreign office, Lord Kerr of Kinlochard, who helped to draft Article 50, the part of the Lisbon treaty that deals with the procedure for leaving the EU.
One of the diplomats, Lord Ricketts, Britain’s former ambassador to France, said the prime minister’s present strategy was ‘‘seriously damaging’’.
‘‘We can all feel the rising exasperation and incomprehension at why Britain can’t resolve its internal differences,’’ he added. ‘‘This is a wake-up call. If we can’t get a clear agreement, let’s delay.‘‘
Eurosceptic Tories were threatening to rebel in a key Brexit vote overnight over a motion tabled in the prime minister’s name which they claim would commit the government to avoiding EU withdrawal without a deal. – PA, The Times