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Lib Dem whip 'messed up' after Cable and Farron miss Brexit vote | |
(about 5 hours later) | |
The Liberal Democrats' chief whip says he "messed up" by allowing party leader Sir Vince Cable and his predecessor Tim Farron to skip Monday night's knife-edge vote on Brexit. | |
They could have cut the government's winning margin on the Customs Bill from three votes to just one. | |
Mr Farron said he had "called it wrong" and was sorry for what had happened. | Mr Farron said he had "called it wrong" and was sorry for what had happened. |
And chief whip Alistair Carmichael said he had expected the vote to be "lost by hundreds". | |
In a statement tweeted by Sir Vince, Mr Carmichael said the government's winning margin should have been just one. | |
"By the time it became apparent that the vote was going to be close - it was too late to get two of our MPs, Vince and Tim, back in time to vote," he said. | |
"I'm taking responsibility and redoubling my efforts to stop Brexit." | |
A party source described Sir Vince's absence as a "bit unfortunate" and that he was elsewhere at a confidential political meeting "outside of the parliamentary estate". | |
Mr Farron was booked to give a talk, Illiberal Truths, about the furore over whether he believed gay sex was a sin during the last general election. | |
He tweeted that the Conservatives "don't deserve any luck". | |
All the party's other MPs - with the exception of new mum Jo Swinson who was 'paired' with an MP who didn't vote for the other side - cast their ballot against the government on amendments to legislation defining the UK's customs arrangements with the EU after it leaves in March 2019. | |
The amendments, tabled by Eurosceptic Tory MPs, were accepted by ministers - prompting a backlash by pro-European Tories, 14 of whom ended up voting against the government. | The amendments, tabled by Eurosceptic Tory MPs, were accepted by ministers - prompting a backlash by pro-European Tories, 14 of whom ended up voting against the government. |
With Labour also voting against, the government scraped home in two votes by a margin of three. | With Labour also voting against, the government scraped home in two votes by a margin of three. |
The Lib Dems have been calling for a referendum on the final Brexit deal, with senior figures backing the cross-party People's Vote campaign. | The Lib Dems have been calling for a referendum on the final Brexit deal, with senior figures backing the cross-party People's Vote campaign. |
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