MPs given a vote on Brexit plan
BRITAIN: Theresa May is giving MPs the opportunity today to vote on her plan to trigger Article 50 and formally begin Brexit next year.
Just over 24 hours after the Supreme Court began considering whether Parliament should be allowed a vote, the prime minister formally amended a backbench motion on Brexit - a process triggering the vote.
MPs will be asked to back the government’s plan to formally serve Article 50 by the end of March 2017. May also committed to revealing the official plan for Brexit before the process begins.
The unexpected announcement yesterday came after months of the government refusing to formally allow Parliament to vote on Brexit or give a ‘‘running commentary’’ on the process.
The vote was welcomed by both Leave and Remain campaigners, with Brexiteers backing May’s decision to finally tackle the issue head on. Downing Street sources said that it was now time to ‘‘see if those who say they accept the result really do’’.
MPs and Remain campaigners have spent months plotting how to undermine the result of the referendum, while saying they support the will of the people, and will now have to reveal their intentions.
Conservative MPs will be forced to support the amendment, although a small number are expected to either abstain or vote against the Government.
Labour also said it would back the amendment, although it was unclear whether its MPs would support the position. The Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party are expected to vote in defiance of the referendum result, in an attempt to block Brexit.
The Supreme Court is to continue sitting and may refuse to accept the result of the parliamentary vote, which is non-binding. Judges may demand that Parliament goes further and pass a piece of legislation which sets out in detail exactly how Brexit will be negotiated.
Although May is expected to win the vote, which is only being held in the House of Commons, passing full legislation through both the lower and upper houses of Parliament would prove far more problematic.
May intervened after Labour tabled a motion in the Commons in an attempt to force her into ‘‘publishing the government’s plans for leaving the European Union’’.
Anna Soubry, a former employment minister who is campaigning for the United Kingdom to stay in the Single Market, had said she and up to 40 other Tory MPs could rebel and back the Labour motion because it ‘‘transcended party politics’’.
The government responded by largely accepting the motion, which says there ‘‘should be no disclosure of material that could be reasonably judged to damage the UK in any negotiations’’. However, the government added an amendment ‘‘recognising that this House will respect the wishes of the United Kingdom’’ in the Brexit vote, and saying negotiations should be triggered by the end of March. Tory rebels indicated that they would support the amendment, with Soubry hailing it as a ‘‘victory’’.
May made the announcement as Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, triggered a row with Downing Street after saying that Britain would have just 18 months to strike a deal before it leaves the bloc. Downing Street said it would not be ‘‘nailed to’’ a deadline, although Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said 18 months was ‘‘ample time’’ in which to conclude a deal.
In the Supreme Court yesterday, the country’s foremost judges said ministers could have avoided legal action over Brexit if they had made sure the EU referendum was legally binding.
May intends to trigger Article 50 by March 31, but Remain campaigners have demanded that she must announce her plans and that MPs should be given a vote.
She had resisted, arguing that laying her plans before a parliamentary vote would weaken her negotiating position as she attempts to secure a deal on the terms of Britain’s relationship with the remaining EU nations ahead of Brexit.
Both Labour and Conservative MPs have claimed they do not want to stop Brexit, but merely want details of the plan first. The amendment by May will flush out whether that is the case.
Ministers have privately conceded they are unlikely to win the Supreme Court case. The Government argues that May has the power to invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which gives notice of Britain’s intent to leave the EU, using a royal prerogative, without the need for a specific Act of Parliament.
Meanwhile, ministers are considering doing a deal with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon that would give her the power to hold a second independence referendum - but only after Brexit. The Scottish government needs to strike an agreement with London to put the question to voters again. - Telegraph Group, The Times