MPS back pause to Brexit timetable

More than half Conservative MPS vote against government’s amendment.

MPS have voted to delay Brexit beyond the scheduled date of March 29 in dramatic parliamentary scenes which saw the Conservative Party split down the middle.

More than half of Tory MPS – including seven Cabinet ministers, at least 33 other ministers and whips, and five party vice-chairs – voted against Theresa May’s motion to put back the date when Britain leaves the EU.

Chief Whip Julian Smith abstained, with sources suggesting he did so in order to be able to “broker peace”.

Among those voting in the opposite lobby to the prime minister was Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay, who had opened debate on the motion on behalf of the government.

Others included Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, Leader of the Commons Andrea Leadsom, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss.

Ms Mordaunt said: “Tonight I voted against delaying Brexit, but the Parliament agreed to an extension. It must be a swift one, with purpose. We must deliver the result of the referendum, and hurry up about it.”

Downing Street sources denied that Mrs May had lost control of her Cabinet or her party, insisting that the results were a “natural consequence” of Mrs May’s decision to offer a free vote on an issue where many hold strong views.

At a special political Cabinet meeting shortly before the votes, the prime minister is understood to have berated four ministers for defying the whip by abstaining the previous night when MPS voted to rule out a no-deal Brexit.

But Downing Street indicated that the four – Greg Clark, David Gauke, Amber Rudd and David Mundell – would not lose their jobs.

A Number 10 source characterised the exchange as “productive, open and honest”, adding that Cabinet “collectively agreed to redouble their resolve in working to deliver on the result of the referendum to leave the EU by securing support for a deal”.

The vote to delay Brexit came after Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement was rejected for the second time on Tuesday and MPS voted the following day to rule out no-deal.

A motion in Mrs May’s name, authorising the prime minister to request an extension to the two-year Article 50 negotiation process, was passed by 413 votes to 202.

Mrs May’s plans for delay were backed by 112 Tories, 236 Labour MPS and 65 other opposition MPS and Independents. She was opposed by 188 Tories and all 10 of her DUP allies, as well as Labour MPS Stephen Hepburn, Kate Hoey and Graham Stringer and Independent Frank Field.

Only a refusal by the leaders of the 27 remaining EU states to grant the UK an extension at a Brussels summit next week could now preserve the totemic date of March 29 as Brexit Day.

The result was welcomed by business, with Josh Hardie of the CBI saying it showed “there is still some common sense in Westminster”.

But it was denounced by the Leave Means Leave campaign, whose vicechairman Richard Tice said it was time for “new leadership” which would deliver departure on World Trade Organisation terms.

“MPS are out of touch with the mood of the people, who want to leave on March 29 with a clean WTO Brexit,” said Mr Tice.

Mrs May has made clear that she hopes to bring her agreement back to the Commons by March 20 in the hope of securing the support of MPS who rejected it by 230 votes in January and 149 earlier this week.

If she succeeds, she will go to Brussels next Thursday to request a short delay to a date no later than June 30.

We must deliver the result of the referendum, and hurry up about it. INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT SECRETARY PENNY MORDAUNT