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| Brexit: No 10 rules out backing compromise amendment to EU withdrawal bill | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The government will not back a compromise deal offered by the leading Conservative pro-Europe rebel Dominic Grieve, paving the way for a Commons showdown over whether parliament can prevent a “no deal” Brexit. | |
| Downing Street ruled out backing Grieve’s 11th-hour amendment, tabled late on Monday, which would give parliament more control over the outcome should MPs vote down Theresa May’s final Brexit deal. The government has offered its own amendment, where the only promised outcome is a statement to parliament within 28 days. | |
| “We are not backing the Grieve amendment, the government has tabled an amendment on this matter already,” a No 10 source said on Tuesday. Talks between the rebels and Conservative whips are expected to continue throughout the day until the votes in the late afternoon. | |
| The Brexit secretary, David Davis, said on Tuesday that to give parliament any further control over the negotiation process would put the UK at a disadvantage in negotiations. “You have to maintain alternatives that the other side may not want as well. Europe does not want no deal,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. | |
| Grieve, a former attorney general, met the chief whip, Julian Smith, and gave his amendment to the clerks late on Monday, less than 24 hours before the crucial vote in the Commons. | Grieve, a former attorney general, met the chief whip, Julian Smith, and gave his amendment to the clerks late on Monday, less than 24 hours before the crucial vote in the Commons. |
| The amendment would have given ministers until the end of November to get agreement on the final Brexit deal and then given parliament full control of the next steps if there was no final Brexit deal by mid-February 2019. That amendment is now highly unlikely to be put to a vote, which means MPs are set to vote on the tougher Lords amendment which sets out an even more rigorous timetable. | |
| A customs union is an agreement by a group of countries, such as the EU, to all apply the same tariffs on imported goods from the rest of the world and, typically, eliminate them entirely for trade within the group. By doing this, they can help avoid the need for costly and time-consuming customs checks during trade between members of the union. Asian shipping containers arriving at Felixstowe or Rotterdam, for example, need only pass through customs once before their contents head to markets all over Europe. Lorries passing between Dover and Calais avoid delay entirely. | A customs union is an agreement by a group of countries, such as the EU, to all apply the same tariffs on imported goods from the rest of the world and, typically, eliminate them entirely for trade within the group. By doing this, they can help avoid the need for costly and time-consuming customs checks during trade between members of the union. Asian shipping containers arriving at Felixstowe or Rotterdam, for example, need only pass through customs once before their contents head to markets all over Europe. Lorries passing between Dover and Calais avoid delay entirely. |
| Customs are not the only checks that count – imports are also scrutinised for conformity with trading standards regulations and security and immigration purposes – but they do play an important role in determining how much friction there is at the border. A strict customs regime at Dover or between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland would lead to delays that will be costly for business and disruptive for travellers. Just-in-time supply chains in industries such as car making could suffer. An Irish peace process built around the principle of entirely unfettered travel between north and south could be jeopardised. | Customs are not the only checks that count – imports are also scrutinised for conformity with trading standards regulations and security and immigration purposes – but they do play an important role in determining how much friction there is at the border. A strict customs regime at Dover or between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland would lead to delays that will be costly for business and disruptive for travellers. Just-in-time supply chains in industries such as car making could suffer. An Irish peace process built around the principle of entirely unfettered travel between north and south could be jeopardised. |
| Davis said there would be no possibility of renegotiation with the EU should parliament reject a Brexit deal. “It won’t start all over again because we’ll be out of time. At the end of March 2019 we leave the European Union, full stop,” he said. | Davis said there would be no possibility of renegotiation with the EU should parliament reject a Brexit deal. “It won’t start all over again because we’ll be out of time. At the end of March 2019 we leave the European Union, full stop,” he said. |
| “That was the decision of the British people … whatever we do, we are not going to reverse that. A meaningful vote is not the ability to reverse the decision of the referendum.” | “That was the decision of the British people … whatever we do, we are not going to reverse that. A meaningful vote is not the ability to reverse the decision of the referendum.” |
| Davis said the government would decide its next steps if and when parliament rejected any negotiated deal, but said it would be wrong to give MPs any further role in deciding the next steps. | Davis said the government would decide its next steps if and when parliament rejected any negotiated deal, but said it would be wrong to give MPs any further role in deciding the next steps. |
| “If they throw it, they throw it out and we’ll have to go away and think about it and come back and make a statement, which is what I’m saying to the House this afternoon,” he said. “That statement will tell them what the next steps are. What I’m not going to do is pre-negotiate, lay out for the EU, what will happen.” | “If they throw it, they throw it out and we’ll have to go away and think about it and come back and make a statement, which is what I’m saying to the House this afternoon,” he said. “That statement will tell them what the next steps are. What I’m not going to do is pre-negotiate, lay out for the EU, what will happen.” |
| Grieve had suggested he would back the Lords amendment, which has a much more expansive role for parliament, if the government did not back his compromise. | |
| “I’ve tabled this evening a fresh amendment … I hope very much the government will look at that, because I think it provides a solution which would satisfy everybody,” he told BBC Newsnight on Monday night. “If it’s not accepted, I will have to consider very carefully tomorrow – I might well vote against the government. I’ve made that quite clear.” | “I’ve tabled this evening a fresh amendment … I hope very much the government will look at that, because I think it provides a solution which would satisfy everybody,” he told BBC Newsnight on Monday night. “If it’s not accepted, I will have to consider very carefully tomorrow – I might well vote against the government. I’ve made that quite clear.” |
| The “meaningful vote” amendment is now the only potential government defeat, after remainers and Brexiters struck a compromise deal overnight over the customs union. Downing Street sources said they would back an alternative amendment on the proposal for “a customs arrangement”, tabled by backbenchers Nicky Morgan, a remainer, and Jacob Rees-Mogg, a leading Brexiter. | The “meaningful vote” amendment is now the only potential government defeat, after remainers and Brexiters struck a compromise deal overnight over the customs union. Downing Street sources said they would back an alternative amendment on the proposal for “a customs arrangement”, tabled by backbenchers Nicky Morgan, a remainer, and Jacob Rees-Mogg, a leading Brexiter. |
| The key battle over whether MPs will back a motion to keep the UK in “a customs union”, which many pro-EU Tory MPs and Labour back, will now take place over amendments to two trade bills, which return to the Commons in July. | The key battle over whether MPs will back a motion to keep the UK in “a customs union”, which many pro-EU Tory MPs and Labour back, will now take place over amendments to two trade bills, which return to the Commons in July. |
| Oliver Letwin, one of the MPs who signed the compromise amendment, said it was “sensible” to delay a vote on the customs plan until more details were settled. “If you are engaged in trying to sort something which is complicated out, it makes sense to do it when you know what the thing that you are debating looks like,” he told Today. | Oliver Letwin, one of the MPs who signed the compromise amendment, said it was “sensible” to delay a vote on the customs plan until more details were settled. “If you are engaged in trying to sort something which is complicated out, it makes sense to do it when you know what the thing that you are debating looks like,” he told Today. |
| On Monday night, the prime minister told Tory MPs at a meeting of the backbench 1922 Committee, attended by ministers including Davis and the chancellor, Philip Hammond, that defeats over the Brexit bill would undermine her negotiating position with Brussels. | On Monday night, the prime minister told Tory MPs at a meeting of the backbench 1922 Committee, attended by ministers including Davis and the chancellor, Philip Hammond, that defeats over the Brexit bill would undermine her negotiating position with Brussels. |
| “We must think about the message parliament will send to the European Union this week. I am trying to negotiate the best deal for Britain,” she told the packed room. | “We must think about the message parliament will send to the European Union this week. I am trying to negotiate the best deal for Britain,” she told the packed room. |
| “I am confident I can get a deal that allows us to strike our own trade deals while having a border with the EU which is as frictionless as possible. But if the Lords amendments are allowed to stand, that negotiating position will be undermined.” | “I am confident I can get a deal that allows us to strike our own trade deals while having a border with the EU which is as frictionless as possible. But if the Lords amendments are allowed to stand, that negotiating position will be undermined.” |
| The House of Lords sent a total 15 amendments to the EU withdrawal bill back to MPs, one of which the government has accepted while offering compromises on three others. | The House of Lords sent a total 15 amendments to the EU withdrawal bill back to MPs, one of which the government has accepted while offering compromises on three others. |
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