Rebels table 59 pages of amendments to Brexit bill
REMAINERS have launched a desperate bid to block Brexit by tabling scores of amendments to the crucial EU Withdrawal Bill.
At close of play yesterday, 157 amendments to the Bill covering 59 pages had been tabled by MPs of all parties who want to see Brexit fail.
It came as the pro-Remain administrations in the Welsh and Scottish governments also made it clear that they would not provide consent for the Bill, which would bring EU law into British law and ensure a smooth transition when the UK leaves at the end of March 2019.
In a further move, Brexit talks with the European Commission have been delayed by a week this month as negotiations have become mired over Britain’s refusal to pay a £78billion divorce bill.
The EU Withdrawal Bill cleared its second reading in the House of Commons by a margin of 36 in the early hours of Tuesday, after a mooted rebellion by Remainer Tories failed to materialise and seven Labour MPs rebelled against Jeremy Corbyn to vote with the Government.
Mrs May hailed the vote, declaring: “Earlier this morning Parliament took a historic decision to back the will of the British people and vote for a Bill which gives certainty and clarity ahead of our withdrawal from the European Union.”
But the changes proposed by Tories, including hard-line Remainer former ministers Kenneth Clarke, Dominic Grieve, Nicky Morgan and Anna Soubry, serves notice on the PM that she faces a rough ride in the remaining stages of the Bill’s passage through Parliament.
In particular, Remainers have put down a dangerous amendment which would lead to a binding vote on the final outcome of negotiations aimed at preventing the UK from walking away from the talks and potentially forcing the Government to either accept a bad deal or remain in the EU.
MPs have approved a timetable guaranteeing 64 hours of debate in the following stage, when the Bill will be scrutinised and votes taken on proposed amendments.
Justice Secretary David Lidington said the Government was “willing to consider” giving more time if there is “good reason”.
Reports from Brussels quoted EU sources as saying that the delay in negotiations was agreed to fit in with the UK’s political calendar, with a major speech on the subject expected by Theresa May on September 21.
But Whitehall insisted the date was agreed mutually and stressed no timetable had previously been fixed, with the week of September 18 only pencilled in.
The fourth round of talks come less than a month before the crunch October 18 EU summit, at which the remaining 27 member states will assess whether sufficient progress has been made to move on to discussions on future trade deals.
With Brussels voicing frustration at the lack of progress on key issues, Britain is pushing to move to continuous rolling talks.
Mrs May is understood to be planning a major Brexit speech for September 21, which could signal a change in direction on the talks.
MOST people are crying out for the Government to get on with Brexit. The majority of sensible Britons are sick and tired of Remainers in Parliament plotting to make the process of leaving the EU even more convoluted, difficult and time-consuming than it needs to be.
In June 2016 we chose to quit the bloc. More than 17.4 million people voted in favour of Leave, a clear victory. Now it is up to the Government to deliver Brexit. Why do so many supposedly intelligent MPs find that impossible to understand?
In the early hours of yesterday morning the Commons backed the Government’s Brexit Bill. This was a crucial victory and yet already ministers have to contend with an enormous number of amendments that have been suggested.
MPs are entitled to their objections and their opinions. Allowing parliamentarians to suggest amendments to legislation is a vital way of making sure our laws are as intelligently written and constitutionally sound as possible. But the number of them that have been tabled in this instance is completely excessive. It is difficult to avoid the suspicion that at least some of these amendments are the result of mischiefmaking on the part of Remainers.
It is about time everybody in Westminster started putting the national interest first and working together to deliver Brexit as quickly as possible.