MPS MUST STOP EU EXIT REBELS
Lords’ bid to force vote on final deal ‘will be overturned’
MPs were last night urged to stand up for the people after unelected peers defied the Government for a second time on key legislation to trigger Britain’s EU departure.
Pro-Brexit campaigners warned lords must not and would not get their way despite voting 366 to 268 for another amendment on Theresa May’s Brexit Bill.
The legislation is now expected to return to the Commons next week, sparking a historic clash with the Lords.
Brexit Secretary David Davis said the vote was “disappointing” and vowed: “We will now aim to overturn these amendments.”
Tory MP Dominic Raab, of Change Britain, declared: “It’s undemocratic for the Lords to give themselves a veto over Brexit, and this flawed amendment would only encourage the EU to offer us a lousy deal.”
MPs are likely to overturn the amendments made by peers despite an expected revolt by
about 10 Tories. That would plunge the 137-word EU (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill into a bout of “parliamentary ping pong” between the Commons and the Lords.
There will be overwhelming pressure on peers to bow to the will of the elected chamber in the end. Last week they voted to insist on guarantees for EU citizens in Britain.
And last night the peers voted to write into the Brexit Bill Mrs May’s promise of a vote for Parliament on the exit deal she strikes with Europe.
She would also need MPs and peers’ approval to take Britain out of the bloc without a deal – which she says she will do rather than agree bad terms.
Frustrate
Brexiteers say the latest amendment is another bid to wreck Brexit, despite last June’s clear referendum vote by 52 per cent to 48 per cent to leave.
Brexit Secretary Mr Davis, who observed some of yesterday’s debate from the sidelines of the Lords chamber, said the Commons had passed the Bill without amendment so the Government could “get on with negotiating a new partnership with the EU”.
He added: “It is clear that some in the Lords would seek to frustrate that process, and it is the Government’s intention to ensure that does not happen.”
Pro-Brexit Tory former Chancellor Lord Lamont said: “I’m disappointed. The amendment is completely unnecessary because the PM has said there will be a vote of both Houses on the outcome of the negotiations.
“Secondly, the amendment effectively puts the Lords in a position of having a veto, which is completely unacceptable in this day and age.”
Richard Tice, co-chair of Leave Means Leave, said peers should be “ashamed”, adding: “This will undermine the PM’s negotiating position and damages the national interest. Unelected, unpatriotic peers are embarrassingly out of touch with basic negotiating techniques.”
The Bill is designed to let Mrs May trigger up to two years of Brexit talks with the EU by invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which she wants to do by March 31. She has promised quickly to resolve the issue of EU nationals’ rights in Britain providing other countries protect British expats.
She has also promised to let Parliament vote on the final deal but believes making that a legal requirement would incentivise the EU to offer bad terms in the hope of thwarting Brexit.
Yesterday’s debate featured a rare speech by Europhile Tory Lord (Michael) Heseltine backing the call for a Parliamentary vote to be written into the Bill.
The former Deputy Prime Minister said he accepted the referendum gave a mandate to negotiate leaving the EU but “I do not accept that the mandate runs for all time and in all circumstances. Forty-eight per cent of our people rejected that concept last year. We now face a
protracted period of negotiation. No one has the first idea of what will emerge. No one can say with certainty how British public opinion will react to totally unpredictable events.
“We face the most momentous peacetime decision of our time and this amendment ... ensures that Parliament has the critical role in determining the future that we will bequeath to generations of young people.”
He was chided by former Cabinet colleague the pro-Brexit Conservative Lord (Michael) Forsyth of Drumlean, who claimed those who backed rewriting the Bill legally had a “hidden agenda” to stop Brexit.
Lord Forsyth said the House was “full of people” who still wanted to reverse the referendum result and who were, like Lilliputians trying to impede Gulliver, sought to “tie down” Mrs May “to prevent her getting an agreement, and to prevent us leaving the EU”.
The Labour-led amendment was presented by independent Lord Pannick – the QC who represented campaigner Gina Miller in the Supreme Court case which forced Mrs May to bring the Bill to Parliament before she can invoke Article 50.
Earlier, a Lib Dem move to promise voters a referendum on Mrs May’s final Brexit deal was defeated by 336 votes to 131.
UK Independence Party peer Lord Pearson said rejecting the will of the British people showed “contempt for democracy”. Archbishop of Canterbury the Most Rev Justin Welby said another referendum would “add to our divisions, deepen the bitterness” exposed by last year’s vote.
Theresa May is coming under growing pressure to call a snap election to crush Brexit opposition and beat Labour as it trails in the polls.
Former Tory leader Lord Hague believes a “decisive” win would put her in a “stronger position”. Senior Tory backbencher Peter Bone backed the move. But last night Downing Street ruled out an election before 2020.