Deal as Lords backs government

since the departure of Amber Rudd on Sunday night. Top, Jeremy Corbyn. Right, Prime Minister Theresa May the Lords voted to give Parliament a decisive say on the outcome of the negotiations, including the power to reject a no-deal exit from the EU.

Asked about the Lords vote, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “There is a role for it to play in providing scrutiny, but the British public have voted to leave the European Union and Parliament needs to get on and deliver that.”

In an indication the government will seek to strip out the amendment when the EU (Withdrawal) Bill returns to the Commons, Mrs May told her Cabinet “the government would be robust”, and it was “vital to ensure the legislation is able to deliver the smooth Brexit which is in the interests of everybody in the UK”.

But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn suggested his MPS would seek to retain the extra powers for parliament sought by the Lords, saying: “I think Parliament should have the final say on the terms of leaving the EU, and if we don’t accept the decisions that the government has made, then they should be sent back to negotiate again.”

In a further sign of the difficulties potentially facing the Prime Minister in the Commons, senior Tory backbencher Sarah Wollaston said Brexiteers wanted to “take back control” to the UK, but “Parliament won’t support a hard Brexit”.

Sources in the Labour and Liberal Democrat groups in the Lords indicated they could force the government into “ping pong” between the two Westminster chambers, potentially delaying the government’s crowded Brexit legislative agenda.

Dr Fox, one of the most committed Brexiteers in Cabinet, was scathing about the Lords vote – one of three defeats on Monday night.

He said: “We can’t have a situation where the clearly expressed will of the people in a referendum is thwarted by effectively procedural devices that would keep us in the EU indefinitely.”

He added: “I think there is quite a big debate now about whether the unelected House can actually thwart the view of the British electorate in a referendum.”

Dr Fox denied that a string of parliamentary defeats would eventually force the government into accepting that the UK would have to be part of a customs union with