MPs reject second Brexit referendum
MPS HAVE decisively rejected an attempt to secure a second referendum on Brexit.
The House of Commons voted by 334 to 85 – a margin of 249 – against an amendment tabled by members of The Independent Group (TIG) of former Labour and Tory MPs, who quit their parties in part because of differences over EU withdrawal.
The decision to press the referendum issue to a vote was opposed as premature by the People’s Vote campaign, which said MPs should be focusing on the question of whether to seek a delay to Brexit.
The Commons was later due to vote on a motion from Prime Minister Theresa May to extend the two-year Article 50 negotiation process beyond the scheduled date of March 29.z
And a cross-party group of senior backbench MPs has launched a bid to allow Parliament to decide what kind of Brexit deal should be negotiated in an expected extension of talks with Brussels.
The cross-party amendment, tabled by MPs including Labour’s Hilary Benn and Yvette Cooper and Tory Sir Oliver Letwin, calls for a series of “indicative votes” to determine MPs’ preferred Brexit outcome.
The votes came as US President Donald Trump said Brexit was ripping Britain apart and warned that another referendum would be “unfair”.
Speaking during Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s visit to the White House, Mr Trump said: “I’m surprised at how badly it’s all gone from the standpoint of a negotiation. I gave the Prime Minister my ideas on how to negotiate it. She didn’t listen to that and that’s fine. I think it could have been negotiated in a different manner, frankly. I hate to see everything being ripped apart now.”
The third evening of Brexit votes in the Commons came after MPs rejected Mrs May’s Withdrawal Agreement by a 149-vote margin on Tuesday and then inflicted fur- ther defeat on the PM on Wednesday by voting to rule out a no-deal outcome.
Ministers met for a special political meeting of Cabinet, at which Mrs May was said to have berated four senior colleagues who defied the Tory whip to abstain in the nodeal vote.
Conservative MPs have been given a free vote on Mrs May’s motion, which proposes a one-off delay of Brexit day to June 30 if her Withdrawal Agreement is approved in a third “meaningful vote” ahead of next week’s EU summit in Brussels.
But it warns that if her deal is rejected for a third time, any extension would have to be longer and would involve the UK taking part in European Parliament elections.
Cabinet Office minister David Lidington told MPs that in this case, the Government would stage two weeks of debate following the March 21-22 summit for the Commons to try to establish a majority around a different plan.
Mrs May left no doubt that she opposes a lengthy delay, telling MPs: “I do not think that would be the right outcome. But the House needs to face up to the consequences of the decisions it has taken.”