Rebels lose bid to lock UK in customs union

THERESA May last night thwarted an attempt by pro-Brussels Tory MPs to keep Britain locked in a customs union with Brussels after Brexit.

On another dramatic day at Westminster, Mrs May’s Government defeated a Commons bid to rewrite her EU departure plans by a wafer-thin margin of just six votes.

Twelve Remain-supporting Tories defied the Prime Minister by backing the rebel amendment to her Brexit Trade Bill.

Cheers of relief resounded from ministers and Brexit-backing backbenchers when the result of the crunch vote emerged as 307 votes to 301.

Mrs May’s allies were last night daring to hope that the victory will enable the Prime Minister to reach the parliamentary summer break next week without facing a Tory leadership challenge.

But Mrs May suffered a setback when another rebel amendment, seeking to keep the UK in the European Medicines Agency, was passed by the Commons.

Tense

The Government was defeated by another slim margin of 305 votes to 301 over the proposal, which was tabled by pro-Brussels former Tory minister Phillip Lee.

At the end of a tense series of votes last night, the Trade Bill cleared the Commons when MPs backed giving the measure a third reading by 317 votes to 286, a majority of 31.

It will undergo further scrutiny in the Lords where it is likely peers could inflict further defeats on the Government.

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox told MPs the legislation would be “the confident first step that the UK takes towards establishing itself as an independent trading nation for the first time in over 40 years”.

Yesterday’s votes marked the end of a tumultuous series of Commons debates over the Prime Minister’s Brexit plans.

She had faced threatened revolts by both Brexiteer and Remain-supporting Tories angry at her compromise plan for a future relationship with the EU.

Ministers are now braced for fresh attempts to amend the Bill by proBrussels peers in the House of Lords.