Bill passed by one vote could cause long delay to Brexit

Extraordinary day in Commons included Speaker having final say on indicative options

MPS are on the brink of forcing the Prime Minister to request another extension of Article 50 after securing a Commons victory by just one vote.

In an extraordinary day in Parliament, MPS considered all Commons stages of a backbench Bill tabled by Yvette Cooper, the Labour MP, in the space of nine hours.

The third reading of the Bill, which concluded its passage through the Commons at 11.25pm, passed by 313 votes to 312.

The Bill will go through the Lords today and is likely to receive Royal Assent on Monday.

The passage of the legislation through both the Commons and the Lords, which usually takes months, is likely to be concluded in just days.

While the Prime Minister has committed to a “short” extension of Article 50, Ms Cooper’s legislation could pave the way for MPS to force her to request a significantly longer delay.

Ms Cooper’s Bill requires the Prime Minister to table a motion seeking MPS’ approval for an extension of Article 50 to a date of her choosing.

However, the motion will be amendable, meaning that MPS can change the length of the extension requested.

MPS approved the Bill after a series of knife-edge votes. At its first reading it passed by 312 votes to 311, a majority of just one.

At the second reading it passed with a majority of five, by 315 to 310.

During the votes yesterday, MPS also delivered a first tie in a Commons vote since 1993 over a proposal to allow a third round of indicative votes on Brexit alternatives.

They voted by 310 to 310 on Labour MP Hilary Benn’s amendment, with John Bercow, the Speaker, casting his vote – in line with precedent – with the noes, meaning Mr Benn’s amendment was defeated.

Sir Patrick Mcloughlin, a former chief whip, raised a point of order asking him to state when this had last happened.

Mr Bercow replied: “My recollection, and I’ve been saying this to audiences across the country so I hope it’s right, is that the last occasion on which the Speaker had to exercise a casting vote was in 1993.”

He said that was “pertaining to the Maastricht treaty Bill”, and his predecessor in the chair, Baroness Boothroyd, had cast her vote “in the way that she did against that amendment”.

He added that the rationale for the exercise of the casting vote was that “it is not for the chair to create a majority that doesn’t otherwise exist”.

The division list for the tied vote showed 14 Conservative MPS rebelled to support the amendment alongside 228 Labour MPS, 35 SNP, 17 Independents, four Plaid Cymru, 11 Liberal Democrats and Green Party MP Caroline Lucas.

The list also showed that nine Labour MPS rebelled to vote against the amendment alongside 289 Conservatives, 10 DUP and two independents.

Ms Cooper said: “We all know there is no agreement and no consensus on the best way forward. We hope we can reach it but at the moment there is no agreement. Let’s at least sustain our agreement about ruling out the worst way forward [no deal].”

David Davis, the former Brexit secretary, warned: “As the old saying goes: ‘Amend at pace, repent at leisure’.”

Sir Bill Cash, the chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee, said the Bill would amount to “supplication to the EU”, and a “profound humiliation for the British people”.

He added: “As I and others have made clear over the years, it will be decided by Germany, in the Council of Ministers, and the European Council.

“I say this is a German Europe, it is run by Germany and that is the bottom line, and that will happen in relation to this decision as well.”