‘Take it or leave it’ vote on Brexit deal

Davis gives MPS final say but concession raises fears of Remainer rebellion

PARLIAMENT will be given a “take it or leave it” vote on Brexit after ministers agreed to enshrine the deal in law in a significant Government concession.

David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, yesterday announced that MPS and peers will be given a binding vote on the final deal with Brussels.

However, the climbdown has prompted fears that pro-eu MPS will attempt to frustrate Brexit by tabling amendments in the hope of delaying or even postponing Britain’s departure.

Last night Mr Davis warned that Britain will leave the European Union without a deal in March 2019 if MPS vote down the Government’s final agreement with Brussels.

Mr Davis’s concession came less than 24 hours before the Commons was due to begin debating the next stage of the EU Withdrawal Bill, which transfers thousands of European laws and regulations on to the UK’S statute books.

The Government is facing a huge rebellion over the proposed move, with more than 400 amendments tabled by MPS from all parties.

The Brexit Secretary’s intervention was an attempt to avert the crisis, and comes after the Government was forced earlier this year to get Parliament’s support for invoking Article 50 after a legal challenge. Tory rebels said that the vote was “pointless” because it means Parliament cannot change the terms of the final deal. Yesterday afternoon pro-european Tories confronted the chief whip over the concession, which they described as “meaningless”. The meeting was said by both sides to have been “stormy”.

The Brexit Secretary told the Commons the new law, which will cover areas including citizens’ rights, the so-called divorce bill and a transition period, will provide “certainty and clarity” as Britain leaves the EU.

He was asked by Owen Paterson, the Eurosceptic Tory MP, whether Britain will leave “without an agreement” if MPS vote down the deal. He replied: “Yes.” He later added: “It’s a meaningful vote, but not meaningful in the sense that some believe meaningful [to be], which is that you can reverse the whole thing.”

Mr Davis said that while he was prepared to go back and talk to Brussels if the Commons attempted to make changes to the deal, he was doubtful that the timetable would allow any alterations at that stage. He was backed by European sources who last night warned the UK that the deal will not be changed at the 11th hour. One source told The Daily Telegraph: “If the UK Government comes back at 11pm on March 29 2019 saying the House of Commons has amended ‘x, y and z’, then we would need to go back to Council and Parliament.

“But it is extremely difficult to imagine member states will start this whole process again once it has been ratified.”

The move infuriated pro-european Tories, who are now preparing to rebel against Government plans to enshrine the date that Britain leaves the EU in law. Heidi Allen, a Tory rebel, said that the vote will be “pointless” if Britain fails to secure a deal with Brussels until the “11th hour”. “There’d be no time,” she said.

Antoinette Sandbach, another proeuropean Tory MP, said: “The announcement is meaningless if, for any

reason, the timetable slips beyond March 2019.” Tensions over Brexit within the Conservative Party will increase today as the Bill begins its next stage in the Commons. Up to a dozen Tory MPS are expected to say that they will vote against plans to enshrine the date that Britain leaves the EU in law. Nicky Morgan, the Remain-supporting former education secretary, yesterday accused the Prime Minister of being “tin-eared and tone-deaf ” on Brexit.

Labour will decide at a meeting of its shadow cabinet this morning whether to join Tory rebels in opposing the Government’s amendment writing the exit date into law. The party will risk alienating Brexit-supporting Labour voters if it does so, but may find the chance of inflicting a defeat on the Government too difficult to resist.

Over the next month MPS will debate more than 400 amendments, running into 186 pages.

Dominic Grieve, the former attorney general and leading Brexit rebel, suggested that he will not drop an amendment of his own demanding a meaningful vote. He suggested that the Brexit deadline should be extended if Parliament votes to amend the final deal to allow talks with Brussels.

It came as Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, said that Labour would allow the European Court of Justice to retain some of its influence over UK law after Brexit.