There is no better deal for Brexit, says May

COMMONS DEBATE AFTER suffering the humiliation of three consecutive Commons defeats, a beleaguered Theresa May faced MPS yesterday, warning them the “only certainty would be uncertainty” if they reject her Brexit plan next week.

At the start of the first of five eight-hour debates on the UK-EU deal, the Prime Minister said: “Don’t let anyone here think that there’s a better deal to be had by shouting louder.

“Don’t imagine that if we vote this down another deal is going to miraculously appear.

“The alternative is uncertainty and risk; the risk Brexit could be stopped, the risk we could crash out with no deal,” she declared.

At the end of her 66-minute speech, Mrs May told MPS: “We should not let the search for a perfect Brexit prevent a good Brexit that delivers for the British people.”

Watching from the peers’ gallery, Christopher Gill, the former Tory MP, had to be told to sit down by Commons doorkeepers after standing up as she finished and shouting: “Outrageous!”

Jeremy Corbyn noted that the PM had achieved something remarkable with her Brexit Plan, saying: “It has united both Conservative Remainers and Conservative Leavers and members of every opposition party in an extraordinary coalition against the deal.”

Mrs May was accused by the Labour leader of instead using the Brussels talks as an “exercise in the internal management of the Conservative Party”.

Mr Corbyn added: “This Government is not taking back control, it is losing control.”

Ardent Brexiter Boris Johnson told MPS: “I really can’t believe there is a single member of this House who sincerely believes this deal we have before us is a good deal.”

At this point, one Tory MP was heard saying: “Actually, there are a lot,” before Ed Vaizey, the former Conservative minister, leapt to his feet to declare his support for the PM’S deal. The former foreign secretary said: “There’s one; I said sincerely.”

Noting that the Government’s heart did not appear to be in the PM’S deal, he added: “It has brought us together; Remainers and Leavers, myself and Tony Blair, the whole Johnson family is united in the belief this is, I’m afraid, a national humiliation.”

Ian Blackford for the SNP berated the PM’S Brexit plan over its approach to EU nationals, saying: “The thought we would take up the drawbridge and stop people coming to participate in the growth of our country is quite fundamentally repugnant to me.” Earlier, MPS backed an amendment tabled by Conservative backbencher Dominic Grieve, the former attorney general, which aims to give MPS a greater say on the way forward should Mrs May’s Brexit plan – as is expected – be defeated.

It was approved by 321 votes to 299, a majority of 22.

Remainers believe this means that when MPS reject the PM’S proposal next Tuesday, they can table amendments to her Plan B, calling for a People’s Vote or a Norway-style option, thus ensuring the avoidance of a no-deal scenario.

Before this vote, MPS engaged in a five-hour debate on a motion claiming the Government was in contempt of Parliament for not publishing the full legal advice on Mrs May’s Brexit plan as ordered by MPS in a recent Commons vote.

Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer moved the contempt motion, saying the Government had been “wilfully refusing to comply” with a binding order.

In light of the expressed will of the House we will publish the final and full advice

But Andrea Leadsom, the Commons Leader, hit back, saying Geoffrey Cox, the Attorney General, had treated Parliament with nothing but respect.

She argued publishing the full legal text would be “irresponsible”, stressing: “It would mean releasing information with no method for the House itself to review or assess the information in question before its release into the full domain.”

MPS rejected a Government move to refer the contempt issue to the Commons Privileges Committee by 311 votes to 307 and then backed the main crossparty contempt motion by 311 votes to 293.

Promising to publish the advice today, Ms Leadsom told MPS: “We’ve listened carefully and in light of the expressed will of the House we will publish the final and full advice provided by the Attorney General to Cabinet but, recognising the very serious constitutional issues this raises, I have referred the matter to the Privileges Committee.”

Meanwhile, the BBC dropped plans to hold a Brexit debate between Mrs May and Mr Corbyn, saying it “could not reach an agreement” or the debate due to have been aired on December 9, two days before the key Commons vote.

ITV said its invitation to host a televised debate on December 9 still stood.