UK MPs vote for Brexit deal but not by October 31
Europe is set to approve another Brexit delay after UK leader Boris Johnson’s plan to fast-track the divorce was thwarted.
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The European Union is set to grant another Brexit extension after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s win was cut short.
Mr Johnson has now paused his Brexit deal after losing a vote that would have seen Britain leave the European Union (EU) on October 31.
The House of Commons passed Mr Johnson’s deal but refused to agree to his fast tracked timeline, 322 to 308, to get it done by next week’s deadline.
European Council President Donald Tusk said he would recommend that the EU grant Britain’s request for an extension to the Brexit deadline.
Mr Tusk tweeted that he would urge the other 27 EU nations to approve the extension to the UK’s departure date.
Britain has sought a three-month delay until the end of January 2020. That was done after Parliament passed a law forcing Mr Johnson to seek the delay.
Without elaborating, Mr Tusk said he will propose a written procedure for the delay.
The PM did what Theresa May was unable to do in three years — get a majority in the Commons to actually leave the EU.
Johnson said it was “joyful” that MPs had finally “embraced a deal”.
But minutes later the PM lost his vote 308 — 322 on the crucial timetable motion, leaving his promise to get the UK out of the bloc by Halloween in tatters.
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Furious MPs had claimed they didn’t have enough time to look at the 100-page bill.
Johnson has threatened to pull the whole Brexit Bill if he’s forced into a three-month delay to Brexit.
The EU already has a request for a Brexit extension until January 31.
Now Britain is likely to head towards a general election before Christmas.
Scottish MPs now want a new independence vote.
It comes as Brussels held firm and again refused to guarantee they would offer another Brexit delay, and said they would wait to see the outcome of the Commons clash.
At the start of a titanic clash in the Commons, Mr Johnson said in a dramatic address to MPs: “I will in no way allow months more of this.
“If parliament refuses to allow Brexit to happen and instead gets its way to delay until January, in no way can the government continue with this.
“And with great regret the bill will have to be pulled and we will have to go forward to a general election.”
But an election — which there is no guarantee that MPs would vote for — would mean Mr Johnson breaks his do-or-die promise to leave the EU on October 31 in order to go to the polls.
“We can get Brexit done and move our country forward,” defiant Mr Johnson stressed.
“I believe if we do this deal, pass this deal and the legislation that enables it, we can turn the page and allow this parliament and this country to heal and unite.”
The “prize” of Brexit was “on the table” and the country is pleading with MPs now to get it done, he stressed.
The public “will not be deceived” by Remainer MPs who say they want to debate our EU exit but actually just want to stop it, he insisted.
The PM spent an hour in the Commons making a series of promises to MPs over workers’ rights, consumer rights and Northern Ireland.
Mr Johnson promised too that the “whole House” would have a say in Britain’s future trade deal with the bloc — a key demand of rebels who are threatening to withhold their support.
However, the PM’s spokesperson warned earlier: “Voting down the program motion has serious implications — it means legislation can drift on and on.
“Voting down the program motion risks handing control to the EU and making No Deal more likely.”
Originally published as UK MPs vote for Brexit deal but not by October 31