Dramatic scenes:
Government forced into last-minute negotiation
MINISTERS WERE yesterday forced into dramatic last-minute shuttle diplomacy with Conservative rebel MPs in full view of the House of Commons chamber to avoid a potentially damaging defeat on Brexit.
Amid a tense and impassioned debate on the EU (Withdrawal) Bill, Chief Whip Julian Smith was seen attempting to win over Tory rebels who appeared emboldened after the Justice Minister Philip Lee resigned earlier in the day to join their calls for MPs to be given a more “meaningful” vote on the final Brexit deal.
Skipton and Ripon MP Mr Smith held talks with rebel ringleader Dominic Grieve on the backbenches and intervened as Justine Greening held discussions with ex-Minister George Freeman, who had described himself as “torn” on the issue.
The rebel MPs were then seen apparently following Mr Smith out of the chamber just 25 minutes before crucial divisions on Mr Grieve’s meaningful vote proposals.
The Chief Whip had already held talks with the Government frontbench which left Brexit Secretary David Davis looking ashenfaced for a period of time.
The rebels and Mr Smith reemerged with minutes to go, and when arch-Remainer Antoinette Sandbach used the last seconds of the debate to indicate her support for concessions eventually offered personally by Theresa May, Mr Davis appeared his more jovial self, laughing alongside the Prime Minister, who had come to the chamber following the crisis talks.
Solicitor General Robert Buckland had attempted to get Mr Grieve to back down with an offer of talks more than an hour earlier, but it was only after personal assurances from the PM that he withdrew his key amendment to the Bill.
Later, MPs voted by 324 to 298 to reject a House of Lords amendment to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill which would have given Parliament the power to tell Mrs May to go back and renegotiate the Brexit deal she secures from Brussels.
During the divisions, Mr Grieve, Dr Lee – who eventually abstained – and outspoken rebel Anna Soubry, who was one of only two MPs to go ahead with the rebellion, were seen in intense discussion on the backbenches.
The Government’s victory means it is on course to overturn all 15 amendments made to the legislation by the Lords, with a key vote on customs union membership kicked down the road to later this year.
But the febrile scenes reflected the splits on Tory benches over the future of Brexit.
Arch-Brexiteer Sir Bill Cash drew howls of derision from Opposition MPs as he evoked the Second World War to argue against Mr Grieve’s amendment, while Europhile former Cabinet Minister Ken Clarke provoked deep laughter on Labour benches as he backed the rebels.
Criticising the Government’s attempt at a compromise, which would see a Minister coming to the House within 28 days of a deal being rejected to tell MPs what will happen next, Mr Clarke said they “might as well say, ‘Oh House of Commons, get lost.’ And that is a wholly inadequate response to the votes we had before Parliament”.
Later, Leeds MP and Commons Brexit Committee chair Hilary Benn made a pitch to Tory rebels, telling them the debate offered a chance to secure a more powerful role for Parliament.
“This is the one chance that we have to exercise the sovereignty that all of us believe properly rests with this House, whether we voted Leave or we voted Remain in the referendum,” he said.
But Labour Brexiteer Kate Hoey argued against the Tory rebels, telling the Commons it was “a recipe for the EU to actually try to get a no-deal so that we will then have to go back cap in hand from this Parliament and ask for changes”.