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Labour renews pressure for Brexit vote with 170 questions Labour renews pressure for Brexit vote with 170 questions
(about 1 hour later)
Labour has renewed pressure on ministers to set out their Brexit strategy to MPs before formal negotiations begin.Labour has renewed pressure on ministers to set out their Brexit strategy to MPs before formal negotiations begin.
Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said Labour would stage a Commons vote on Wednesday on a motion calling for "proper scrutiny". The party will stage a Commons vote on Wednesday on a motion calling for "proper scrutiny" - but this will not be binding on the government.
Ahead of the debate, it asked Brexit Minister David Davis 170 questions, including on trade and migration. Ahead of the debate, Labour asked 170 questions on Brexit, including on trade and migration.
The Conservatives said there would be "no running commentary" on their plans. The government promised Parliament an "important role" in discussions.
The government has faced calls to set out more detail on what it wants Brexit to look like, with little known so far about its plans for migration and trade with the EU. Ministers are facing calls to set out more detail on what it wants Brexit to look like before triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty next year, allowing the country to leave the EU.
Labour's 170 questions - one for each day before the end of March, the government's self-imposed deadline for triggering formal exit talks - come from the new shadow Brexit secretary, Sir Keir Starmer, and Ms Thornberry. Little is known so far about plans for migration and trade with the EU.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Ms Thornberry said: "We have a government who are about to make major decisions on behalf of this country and they want to go into a locked room and fight it out amongst themselves and come out with some plan that they want to keep secret. Some senior politicians - including former Labour leader Ed Miliband - are demanding a full vote on the UK's negotiating stance ahead of full discussions with the EU beginning.
"We publish 170 questions today that we expect the government to answer, at least to have some idea about, at least to have thought about, before they go and trigger article 50." But the government does not want to have its hands tied before talks and some argue it could be used as a way of undermining the result of June's referendum, in which voters chose by 52% to 48% to leave the EU.
The questions challenge the government to say which possible trading models it has ruled out, how it intends to manage EU migration, whether it will guarantee the rights of EU citizens currently in the UK and how it will compensate recipients of EU grants beyond 2020. Labour's Commons motion falls short of specifically asking for a full vote on the UK's Brexit negotiating stance. Instead, it asks for a "full and transparent" debate on the plan for leaving the organisation and for Prime Minister Theresa May "to ensure that this House is able properly to scrutinise that plan... before Article 50 is invoked".
The Labour MPs also ask about the possibility of customs checks being introduced at the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and how employment rights and environmental protections will be maintained. MPs will vote on the motion on Wednesday - but the result will be regarded at most as a sounding of opinion and is not binding on ministers.
Satisfactory answers to all these questions "might give some confidence that the government is entering the Article 50 negotiations with a clear plan", they say in a letter to Mr Davis. The government has tabled an amendment to the motion, stating that negotiations for Brexit must be handled in a way that "respects the decision" reached in the referendum.
They add that if not, "it will reinforce the sense that the government is instead blundering into this process without a clear endgame in mind". It adds that parliamentary scrutiny must not be allowed "undermine the [UK's] negotiating position".
Analysis by Iain Watson, BBC political correspondentAnalysis by Iain Watson, BBC political correspondent
Ever since the referendum, the Labour leadership has been criticised by pro-EU backbenchers for not doing enough to scrutinise the government's plans for leaving the European Union.Ever since the referendum, the Labour leadership has been criticised by pro-EU backbenchers for not doing enough to scrutinise the government's plans for leaving the European Union.
But now the new shadow minister for Brexit, Sir Keir Starmer - along with Emily Thornberry - seems to be making up for lost time.But now the new shadow minister for Brexit, Sir Keir Starmer - along with Emily Thornberry - seems to be making up for lost time.
Although the precise number of questions is a little gimmicky, they address some issues which business leaders also want answered - for example, whether the government has decided the UK should leave the single market and if so, if it would still abide by its regulations.Although the precise number of questions is a little gimmicky, they address some issues which business leaders also want answered - for example, whether the government has decided the UK should leave the single market and if so, if it would still abide by its regulations.
And a number of Conservative MPs are likely to participate in Wednesday's parliamentary debate on Brexit - also calling for more transparency from the government.And a number of Conservative MPs are likely to participate in Wednesday's parliamentary debate on Brexit - also calling for more transparency from the government.
A Conservative spokesman said the party was aiming for "the right deal for the United Kingdom" and to "return control over all the decisions that affect people's lives to the sovereign institutions of this country". Labour's 170 questions - one for each day before the end of March, the government's self-imposed deadline for triggering Article 50 - come from the new shadow Brexit secretary, Sir Keir Starmer, and Ms Thornberry.
It would not be in the national interest "to provide a running commentary as we shape our negotiating strategy, let alone reveal every aspect of it in advance as Labour now appears to be suggesting", he said. Ms Thornberry told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We have a government who are about to make major decisions on behalf of this country and they want to go into a locked room and fight it out amongst themselves and come out with some plan that they want to keep secret.
On Monday several senior politicians demanded Parliament be given the chance to vote on the government's Brexit plans before it begins formal negotiations. "We publish 170 questions today that we expect the government to answer, at least to have some idea about, at least to have thought about, before they go and trigger article 50."
Downing Street said they were trying to "second-guess" the will of voters who backed Brexit in June's EU referendum, although government sources said MPs could still be asked to approve the "final" deal that is reached. The questions challenge the government to say which possible trading models it has ruled out, how it intends to manage EU migration, whether it will guarantee the rights of EU citizens currently in the UK and how it will compensate recipients of EU grants beyond 2020.
Labour's motion does not explicitly call for a vote but says leaving the EU is "the defining issue facing the UK", calling for a "full and transparent" debate on the plan for leaving the EU and for Mrs May "to ensure that this House is able properly to scrutinise that plan... before Article 50 is invoked". The prime minister's spokeswoman said: "We've always said that Parliament has an important role to play, and the amendment reflects that.
MPs will vote on the motion - although the result will not be binding - and the government is expected to table an amendment adding that the EU referendum result must be respected and that the government's negotiating strategy should not be undermined. "But we also believe this should be done in a way that respects the decision of the people of the UK when they voted to leave the EU on 23 June and does not undermine the negotiating position of the government as negotiations are entered into... after Article 50 has been triggered."