Brexit: Shock as ban no-deal in any circumstance passed

Tory rebels who helped pass no-deal face the sack as Theresa May demands MPs approve her deal or a long extension to Article 50.

Theresa May in parliament today Picture; AFP.

Theresa May is demanding the British parliament either approves a Brexit deal or come up with a clear purpose for an extension of Article 50 by March 20 according to the motion she will table in the House of Commons tomorrow.

The amendment gives an idea of Mrs May’s planned timetable, but just as in today’s shock vote against the government, her plans could go awry.

Earlier today in astonishing result that completely undermined Mrs May’s authority, the House of Commons voted to take a no-deal Brexit off the table in any circumstance.

Tomorrow (AEDT) MPs will vote on whether to request the EU for a short extension to Article 50, the mechnism which triggers Britain’s withdrawal from the EU.

However after today’s vote a series of amendments are expected once again to be tabled calling for a much longer extension of Article 50 in moves which defy Mrs May’s weaking attempts to keep control.

As it stands, Mrs May’s motion calls for a short extension of Article 50 if the UK parliament passes the withdrawal bill before March 20. This is necessitated by the EU stipulation that it would not agree an extension to Article 50 unless a deal was in place.

However Mrs May’s bill has already failed twice by hefty margins.

Mrs May’s motion adds that if the withdrawal bill is not passed, the European Council would highly likely require a clear purpose for any extension.

However a longer extension would mean Britain having to take part in European Parliament elections on May 23. Given that the EU has been reluctant to have any extension that would interrupt these elections, the pressure now could be on the EU whether to accept a much longer extension.

Labour’s Mary Creagh told the Speaker of the House “The business motion that you just read out at speed indicates that the government is clearly making this House a prisoner of its deal, because what it is saying is that we have to agree the deal by the 20th March and if we do that, we get the extension that this House is clearly going to be voting for tomorrow.

“When will the government allow this House to express any alternatives to the deal that the Prime Minister, despite having been beaten twice, is still trying to railroad through this place?”’

Tory rebels voted against no-deal

As it emerged that among 17 rebel Tories four were cabinet minister who abstained in the vote, Mrs May now faces the dilemma of whether to sack them or not.

In an hour of high drama and amid pressure from fellow MPs the movers of the amendment to Mrs May’s main motion - to reject a no-deal Brexit - Conservative Caroline Spelman and Labour’s Jack Dromey tried to withdraw their ‘no circumstances’ motion, but Speaker John Bercow allowed another signatory, Labour’s Yvette Cooper, to move it.

The amendment vote was won 312 to 308, which ruled out a no-deal unilaterally, without including a qualification from the original motion.

Shortly afterward, when the amendment became the motion and was put to the House again, the vote was 321 to 278, a majority of 43. A breakdown of the vote showed 17 Conservative MPs had voted for the motion.

The decision leaves the government in a quandary: the parliamentary vote is not legislated and can be ignored, yet Environment Secretary Michael Gove, speaking for the Prime Minister, had earlier promised parliament that they would legislate the no-deal vote.

Speaking immediately after the vote, Mrs May put a series of bleak options to the House.

“The legal default in UK and EU law remains that the UK will leave the EU without a deal unless something else is agreed.

“The onus is now on every one of us in this House to find out what that is. The options before us are the same as they always have been.

“We could leave with the deal this government has negotiated over the past two years. We could leave with a deal we have negotiated but subject to a second referendum but that would risk no Brexit at all, damaging the fragile trust between the British public and the members of this House.

“We could seek to negotiate a different deal, however, the EU has been clear the deal on the table is indeed the only deal available.”

Mrs May added that on Friday (AEDT) the government would bring forward a motion on whether theHouse supports seeking to agree an extension to Article 50 with the EU.

SHERIDAN: May firmly places UK in laughing stocks

She told MPs if the House supported deal in the next few days it would allow the government to seek a short extension to Article 50 to allow time to ratify the withdrawal agreement.

“But let me be clear, such a short technical extension is only likely to be on offer if we have a deal in place,” she pointed out..

“Therefore the House has to understand and accept that if it is not able to support a deal in the coming days and if it is not willing to support leaving without a deal on the 29th of March then it is suggesting that there will need to be a much longer extension to Article 50.

“Such an extension would undoubtedly require the United Kingdom to hold European Parliament elections in May.

“I do not think that would be the right outcome. But the House needs to face up to the consequences of the decisions it has taken.”

Leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg told Sky News: ‘’This vote is very interesting and the government may or may not pay attention to it’’.

Mr Bercow told parliament that while the vote cannot override statute law; “If members want to ensure its ultimate success further, steps are required, there are opportunities available to them.’’

Tory MP Ben Bradley said Mrs May Must sack those Tories who defied the whip and abstained or crossed the floor.

“I am shocked,’’ he said.

“They need to go, frankly. If she doesn’t (sack them) we are in total freefall. There can’t be one rule for backbenchers and one for cabinet ministers.’’

Former Home Secretary Amber Rudd is among those who abstained while a junior minister is reported to have resigned en route to vote.

George Freeman, one of the Tory abstainers, told Sky News: “The deal is dead.”

Today’s vote means the tenuous hold of the Tory leadership has been split wide open.

The so-called Malthouse compromise, to delay Brexit to 22 May with a transition phase extended to 2021 failed as expected, by 374 to 164.

British MPs have rejected the plan to delay the Brexit cut-off date and remove the Irish Backstop after narrowly voting to rejected a 'no-deal' divorce from the European Union.

MORE: https://t.co/ykweMevBOK #FirstEdition pic.twitter.com/LoTm7vhyxH

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) March 13, 2019

Reject no-deal forever amendment

Tory Dame Caroline Spelman and Labour’s Jack Dromey had put forward the surprise amendment which directly called for the House of Commons to reject a no-deal Brexit for all time. It has the support of Remainers such as Oliver Letwin, Hilary Benn, Nick Boles and Yvette Cooper, and the recently formed 11 strong The Independent Group as well as Labour.

It is still unsure whether the success of this amendment will scupper Mrs May’s hopes of reviving the heavily defeated Brexit bill for a third time.

Mrs May had whipped against the Spelman amendment and amid last minute pressure, Ms Spelman attempted to drop the amendment only for it to be picked up by senior Labour MP Yvette Cooper.

Malthouse Compromise

However Mrs May was forced to offer a free vote on a second amendment amid threats of a mass Cabinet revolt. This second amendment, tabled by Tory backbenchers comprises remnants of the Malthouse Compromise which calls for a short Article 50 extension and a “mutual standstill” transition agreement with the European Union until December 2021 to allow the UK to negotiate a trade deal with the EU or prepare for a no-deal.

The EU lead negotiator Michel Barnier has already cautioned against this second Malthouse style amendment, saying there will be no transition period without the UK also agreeing to the ithdrawal agreement. Another negotiator, Sabine Weyand, said any support for this amendment shows how “the parliament is divorced from reality’’.

In Strasbourg, Mr Barnier waved a copy of the withdrawal agreement and said: “If the UK wants to leave, then this treaty which we negotiated for a year and a half is and will remain the only treaty available’’.

He added caution about extending Article 50 as well.

“Why would we extend these discussions?” Mr Barnier asked. “The discussion on Article 50 is done and dusted. We have the withdrawal agreement. It is there.

“President (Jean Claude) Juncker also said that there will be no further interpretations, no further assurances — we cannot go any further.”

A croaky Mrs May had to relinquish opening the debate about her motion which removes no-deal as an option for March 29 but reinforces the Withdrawal deal as the only viable way for Brexit to happen, because she was losing her voice.

Her motion is: “That this House declines to approve leaving the European Union without a Withdrawal Agreement and a Framework for the Future Relationship on 29 March 2019; and notes that leaving without a deal remains the default in UK and EU law unless this House and the EU ratify an agreement.”

In a quip during Prime Minister’s Questions she insisted: ‘’I may not have my own voice, but I do understand the voice of the country’’.

Earlier, Chancellor Philip Hammond delivered the Spring Statement which included some robust financial news about the British economy but warned a no-deal Brexit could lead to an increase in inflation.

“A no-deal Brexit would deliver a significant short to medium term reduction in the productive capacity of the British economy,’’ he said.

“And because our economy is operating at near full capacity, any fiscal and monetary response would have to be carefully calibrated not to simply cause inflation.”

Mr Hammond said he will decide in the Spending Review later this year how to spend monies from a Brexit “deal dividend”, which is the savings made from leaving with a deal, as opposed to using monies set aside for a more costly no-deal.

The shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the Conservative government was threatening the country that austerity could only end by accepting “this Government’s bad deal of a Brexit”.

He said: “Brexit looms large over everything we discuss. Even today, the Chancellor has tried to use the bribe of a deal double dividend or threat of postponing the spending review to cajole MPs into voting for the government’s deal.

“Publication of the tariffs this morning is clearly part of this strategy. This is a calamitous strategy. It is forcing people into intransigent corners rather than bringing them together.’’