B Day: Was it deal or no deal?
Did Boris get Brexit tick in House on ‘Super Saturday’ sitting overnight?
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan to get Parliament to approve his Brexit deal with the European Union was last night thrown into doubt.
Lawmakers last Saturday NZ time said they will first vote on whether to withhold approval until legislation to implement the agreement has been passed.
That would bring another law into play that would force Johnson to seek a Brexit delay from the European Union.
House of Commons Speaker John Bercow said he would allow a vote on an amendment that essentially put the vote on the deal off until another day. The vote was due overnight as Johnson worked hard to persuade Parliament a new Brexit deal could heal the rift in British politics.
Johnson earlier worked behind the scenes yesterday to win enough support to push his new Brexit deal through the fractious British Parliament (overnight NZ time) and pave the way for Britain — finally — to leave the European Union in two weeks.
His message to allies and opponents alike: Approve the agreement so Britain can finally put the tortuous, three-year Brexit saga behind it.
Johnson returned from the EU summit in Brussels where he sealed the divorce deal and began a busy day of meetings and phone calls as he attempted to persuade lawmakers to ratify the pact at a rare Saturday sitting of Parliament. He met with his Cabinet before what was expected to be a knife-edge House of Commons vote on what was being billed by media as “Super Saturday”.
“I want colleagues on all sides of the House to think about a world tomorrow night in which we’ve got this thing done and we’ve got it over the line,” he told British broadcaster ITV. “Because I think the nation will heave a great sigh of relief because that will be our moment to get on with the priorities of our country.”
Johnson’s Conservative Party holds only 288 seats in the 650-seat House of Commons, so he was having to rely on support from other parties and independent lawmakers to get over the line.
A lawmaker behind the proposed new law, Oliver Letwin, said it would prevent the UK from leaving at the end of the month “by mistake if something goes wrong during the passage of the implementing legislation”.
Parliament has also passed a law compelling the government to ask the EU for a three-month delay to Brexit if a deal was not approved overnight.
European Union leaders, who unanimously approved the deal, applied pressure by suggesting there is no guarantee they would grant another delay if the latest deal is rejected.