 |
| Credits to Leader's Office |
MPs are to vote on Theresa May's withdrawal agreement for the third time it has been confirmed.
Speaker of the Commons John Bercow confirmed the motion tabled by the Government was new and changed from the previous meaningful vote.
The motion deals solely with the withdrawal agreement and not the political declaration. Labour has said it will not support the motion. MPs vented their anger and frustration with come questioning the legality of the Government's action. Labour has said it is impossible to separate the withdrawal agreement, which deals with the terms of the departure, and the political declaration which concerns the future relationship.
Commons leader Andrea Leadsom told MPs "every effort" must be taken to ensure the UK leaves the EU with a deal on May 22. Should MPs fail to reach an agreement the UK would leave the EU on April 12 without a deal.
She said: "Tomorrow's motion gives Parliament the opportunity to secure that extension.
"I think we can all agree that we don't want to be in the situation of asking for another extension and facing the potential requirement of participating in European Parliament elections.
The motion is not a full so-called "meaningful vote". If the withdrawal agreement is passed on Friday, the Commons would have to have another vote on the political declaration at a later date.
If the vote was defeated the UK could crash out of the EU without a deal, Mrs. Leadsom suggested.
"In agreeing tomorrow's motion we will trigger the automatic extension of Article 50 to May 22," she said.
"If we don't agree the Withdrawal Agreement tomorrow then we will not, so that leaves in doubt the future for the arrangements with the European Council."
Downing Street has said that Mrs. May will not move to a third meaningful vote - known in Westminster as MV3 - unless she believes she has a realistic chance of success, having seen it defeated by 230 votes in January and 149 in March.
But it is understood that Number 10 believes that passing the Withdrawal Agreement alone would allow the UK to guarantee its departure date and avoid the need for Britain to take part in European Parliament elections on May 23-26.
This would buy time to seek wider agreement among MPs on the shape of the UK's future relationship with the EU, in the hope of passing MV3 in April and leaving with a deal on May 22.
Significant doubts remain over whether Mrs. May can secure a majority for the Withdrawal Agreement alone on Friday.
Commons Speaker John Bercow, who had said the Government could not table the same motion twice, said the latest motion the Government has tabled "complies with the test" because it is "new and substantially different".
He indicated amendments tabled which could change the motion in a way that made it more like what had been voted on before in the house would be rejected.
Attorney General Geoffrey Cox said the Government could not allow the 11pm deadline on Friday to pass without allowing MPs to have their say on the withdrawal agreement. The EU's terms agreed at last week's summit meant the deal had to be passed in the Commons by the end of this week.
He said: "When the House listens to the rationale behind it, when it hears the full context of it, I'm sure the House will accept it is not only perfectly lawful, perfectly sensible and is designed to give this House an opportunity of availing itself of a right the European Union has given to us to avail ourselves of an extension until May 22.
"The view of the Government is simply we could not let the time limit expire at 11pm tomorrow, of allowing this House the opportunity of availing itself of that right.
"It is perfectly reasonable and it is perfectly lawful."
In a series of tweets, shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer said: "There are four key reasons why you cannot separate the Withdrawal Agreement from the Political Declaration.
"First, the Article 50 process explicitly states that the EU and member state must negotiate an agreement 'setting out the arrangements for its withdrawal, taking account of the framework for its future relationship with the Union'.
"Second, in their letter of 14 January Presidents Tusk and Juncker said: 'As for the link between the Withdrawal Agreement and the Political Declaration....it can be made clear that these two documents while being of a different nature, are part of the same negotiated package'.
"Third, the PM has said the two documents should be treated as one. On 14 January she said "the link between [the two documents] means that the commitments of one cannot be banked without the commitments of the other. The EU has been clear that they come as a package.
"Fourth, following the PM's commitment yesterday to resign before the next phase of negotiations begin, if the withdrawal agreement passes without a credible plan for what happens next then Brexit is going to be determined by the outcome of the next Tory leadership contest.
"What the Government is doing is not in the national interest and that's why we will not support it tomorrow."
Source: Belfast Telegraph
Post a Comment