May sees off the Brexit rebels
After Grieve backs down, PM calls for unity to get the best deal for Britain
THERESA May’s flagship Brexit legislation was on course to become law last night, after rebel ringleader Dominic Grieve capitulated to the Government.
A threatened Tory rebellion collapsed amid acrimony when Mr Grieve announced he would be voting against his own amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill.
His decision infuriated Labour, which had wheeled in sick MPs in the hope of inflicting a defeat on the government.
But it also split Mr Grieve’s gang of diehard Tory Remainers, allowing the Prime Minister to win the vital vote by 319 to 303.
Last night the Bill cleared the Lords after pro-Remain peers finally gave up their attempts to wreck it. Former Labour cabinet minister Lord Adonis, who has led attempts to derail Brexit, threw in the towel, saying: ‘We have suffered an unmitigated defeat.’
Mrs May meanwhile urged warring Tories to now come together and fight for the best possible Brexit deal.
Speaking at the Policy Exchange think tank last night, she said: ‘Now, with the Withdrawal Bill on its way to the statute book, it is time to unite as a county and a Party to get the very best Brexit deal for Britain. More people voted to leave the European Union than have ever voted for anything else in our history. Nothing would hurt our democracy more than to give the people a choice and then not to trust their judgement when they give it.
‘By honouring that decision, we are showing that in the United Kingdom, the Mother of Parliaments, when the people speak their voices are heard.’
After weeks of threats and high stakes negotiations, just six Tory MPs sided with Labour against the Government – former ministers Kenneth Clarke, Anna Soubry and Phillip Lee, and backbenchers Heidi Allen, Antoinette Sandbach and Sarah Wollaston.
Mr Grieve, working in tandem with proRemain peers in the Lords, had been demanding a veto for MPs over any attempt to leave the EU without a deal. Brexit Secretary David Davis told MPs the proposal ‘could be used to overturn the result of the referendum’.
Speaking ahead of the vote, he insisted the whips would fail in picking off the rebels. But he capitulated after Mr Davis offered a ‘concession’ viewed by most at Westminster as ‘meaningless’.
In theory, the concession would allow Speaker John Bercow to rule on whether MPs could attach amendments to the vote on no deal – potentially allowing them to direct the government. But Commons sources said this was simply a restating of the existing rules.
Mr Grieve said he considered Brexit a ‘historic mistake’. But he said he could not ‘entirely ignore’ warnings that his proposal could undermine the UK’s negotiations with Brussels.
To cries of ‘shame’ from the Labour benches, the former attorney general then announced he would no longer be voting for his own amendment.
Mr Grieve’s decision raises questions about future co-operation between the rebel Tory faction and the opposition.
Miss Sandbach said she would stick by the rebel amendment to provide a means of avoiding ‘catastrophe’ if negotiations with Brussels break down.
At one point a sick Labour MP was steered through the Commons voting lobby in a wheelchair after Tory whips tore up parliamentary conventions that allow ill MPs to have their votes counted without them being present.
Bradford West MP Naz Shah was seen carrying a hospital sick bucket yesterday afternoon in order to vote. Sources described the whips’ decision as ‘unacceptable’ and hinted the government could face reprisals. Tory whips also refused to heavily pregnant MPs Laura Pidcock and Jo Swinson to skip the vote.
Veteran Eurosceptic Sir Bill Cash welcomed the passage of the legislation, which will end the supremacy of EU law after Brexit. He described yesterday’s events as ‘a victory for common sense and the national interest’.
‘Victory for common sense ’