MARCH DATE FOR BREXIT
Historic landslide vote in Commons confirms pull-out
MPs overwhelmingly backed Brexit last night with a historic Commons vote.
By a margin of 461 to 89 they supported a motion to start the process of leaving the EU by the end of March.
Senior MPs said the verdict gave Theresa May a ‘blank cheque’ to negotiate with Brussels.
The threat of a revolt by Tory Europhiles melted away. Only Ken Clarke voted against the Government’s motion, which was carried by a majority of 372.
Labour was thrown into chaos when 23 of its MPs refused to commit to the Brexit timetable. Dozens more abstained in defiance of their leader Jeremy Corbyn. Liberal Democrats – including Nick Clegg – also voted against triggering the Article 50 exit process, along with the SNP.
Some Tory MPs said the vote was so decisive that the Supreme Court, which is hearing a case that could delay Brexit, should ‘pack up and go home’. Lord Neuberger, the court’s most senior judge, yesterday admitted the public would find it ‘odd’ that a Parliamentary vote in favour of Brexit was not enough to trigger Article 50.
He also said it could be argued the authority to leave the EU had been ceded to the people by the referendum. The 7pm vote was carried on a motion which said that – provided the Government gives more detail of its plan for Brexit – the result of the June 23 vote should be respected.
It also committed the Government ‘to invoke Article 50 by March 31, 2017’. Labour had put down a motion demanding more information on Brexit only for No10 and Brexit Secretary David
‘A blank cheque for the Government’
Davis to turn the tables. They promised to provide a limited amount of new information, but only if it did not hamper negotiations with Brussels. And they made MPs commit to a timetable for triggering Article 50.
Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said: ‘Although this was a Labour motion, what they seem to have done now is created a moment in Parliament which is historic. They have had their bluff called, they’ve had to vote to give us a date. That’s a real blank cheque for the Government.’
Labour was left reeling by the rebellion against its official position in favour of triggering Article 50 no later than March.
Mr Corbyn is struggling to control the party’s most Europhile MPs. Meanwhile, MPs in the north of England are under attack from Ukip for appearing to obstruct the Brexit process.
Last night, in a bid to regain the initiative, Labour’s Brexit spokesman Sir Keir Starmer said he would insist the Government provided a detailed plan for leaving the EU before any further vote on triggering Article 50.
It raised the politically dangerous prospect of MPs who voted in favour of the motion making a U-turn and withdrawing support.
Before the vote, Leader of the Commons David Lidington had thrown down the gauntlet to Tory rebels and Labour MPs.
Standing in for Theresa May at Prime Minister’s Questions, Mr Lidington said: ‘The vote tonight will be the first opportunity for members to decide whether or not they support the Government’s timetable for triggering Article 50 by the end of March 2017.
‘Any member who votes against that motion will, in my view, be seeking to thwart the outcome of the referendum in the most profoundly undemocratic fashion.’
Two days ago, Europhile MP Ana Soubry claimed 40 Tory MPs could vote against the Government, but in the end Mr Clarke was the only one.
Only a few hundred yards from where MPs were debating the motion, 11 Supreme Court judges were hearing Day Three of the Government’s Brexit appeal. Ministers want to overturn a High Court judgment saying Parliament must have a vote on triggering Article 50. Mrs May had argued she could begin the process without consulting MPs. Last night’s vote is not binding because it took place in an opposition day debate.
But Philip Davies, a Tory MP and Leave supporter, told the Mail: ‘What on Earth is the point of the Supreme Court case now we’ve had a vote not just on whether we can trigger it but when. What is the point of this case any longer?’
Also voting against the motion were 51 Nationalist MPs, three members of the SDLP, three Plaid Cymru MPs, two independents and the Green Caroline Lucas. Last night, Lib Dem leader Tim Farron upped the stakes by claiming the formal procedure for triggering Brexit was reversible and could be revoked with the ‘political will’.