MPs seize control
■May hit by 3rd crushing defeat ■29 Tories rebel against the PM ■Now MPs will vote on options
TORY MPs defied Theresa May last night to allow MPs to take control of Brexit.
In an unprecedented move, the Commons voted by a majority of 27 to allow backbench MPs to organise a series of ‘indicative votes’ to try to find a majority for a future plan to leave the EU. Twentynine Tory MPs defied the whip and voted for the amendment.
It means MPs will be able to vote on a series of options for the future of Brexit – from supporting Theresa May’s deal, to a softer Brexit such as staying in a customs union, right through to a No Deal Brexit.
Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay confirmed that Commons time would be set aside to allow MPs enough time to debate all the options. But he warned that any significant changes to Mrs May’s deal could lead to lengthy negotiations which could see the UK having to stay in the EU so long that voters would have to take part in the European Parliament elections in May.
The plan was passed thanks to a cross-party amendment placed by Sir Oliver Letwin, the former Cabinet minister. MPs voted 329 in favour to 302 against, despite the Tories ordering their MPs to reject the amendment. Twenty-nine Conservative MPs defied the whip, including three ministers who all resigned last night – business minister Richard Harrington, health minister Steve Brine and Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt.
Other rebels included former Chancellor Kenneth Clarke, Mrs May’s previous de facto deputy Damian Green and former Education Secretary Justine Greening.
Nicky Morgan, another ex-Education Secretary who defied the whip, tweeted: ‘The PM can’t make a statement one week saying that Parliament doesn’t know what it wants on Brexit and then expect MPs not to rise to the challenge of indicating what we do want.’ The vote means MPs will be asked to vote on a range of scenarios in a bid to break the deadlock. Among them could be revoking Article 50, a second referendum, a Canadastyle free trade agreement and joining the single market.
Mr Barclay said he would ‘make time this week to take this forward’, adding he would have ‘discussions across the House about how this would look’.
Earlier, Mrs May had pleaded with her MPs not to let Sir Oliver’s amendment pass, saying it would set an ‘ unwelcome precedent which would overturn the balance of our democratic institutions’. She said the Government would provide time for MPs to debate alternatives, but added: ‘When we have tried this kind of thing in the past, it has produced contradictory outcomes or no outcome at all.
‘The votes could lead to an outcome that is unnegotiable with the EU,’ she told MPs. ‘No government could give a blank cheque to commit to an outcome without knowing what it is.’
Mrs May’s second-in-command, David Lidington, told MPs the Government would arrange indicative votes on Wednesday, if Sir Oliver’s amendment was voted down.
Asked by Sir Oliver why the Government would not simply back his amendment, as it was proposing essentially the same thing, Mr Lidington told MPs it would ‘overturn the balance of power between Parliament and the Government’.
Introducing his amendment, Sir Oliver said allowing MPs to seize control of the Commons agenda should offer ministers a ‘sensible’ Brexit solution rather than a ‘unicorn’. He added: ‘If we go through the process... one of the things we will all have to do is to seek compromise.
‘If we all vote for that which is our first preference, I think we almost know that we will never get to a majority solution.’
A spokesman for the Department for Exiting the European Union said: ‘It is disappointing to see this amendment pass, as the Government made a clear commitment to provide a process to find a majority in Parliament for a way forward this week. This amendment instead upends the balance between our democratic institutions and sets a dangerous, unpredictable precedent for the future.
‘While it is now up to Parliament to set out the next steps in respect of this amendment, the Government will continue to call for realism – any options considered must be deliverable in negotiations with the EU.’