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Brexit: MPs start debate on indicative votes as May hints she might reject what Commons chooses – live news Brexit: MPs vote on indicative votes as May hints she might reject what Commons chooses – live news
(32 minutes later)
Here is the text of the Letwin amendment.
At end, add “and, given the need for the house to debate and vote on alternative ways forward, with a view to the government putting forward a plan for the house to debate and vote on, orders that –
(a) Standing order no. 14(1) (which provides that government business shall have precedence at every sitting save as provided in that order) shall not apply on Wednesday 27 March;
(b) precedence on that day shall be given to a motion relating to the business of the house in connection with matters relating to the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union other than any business of the house motion relating to the consideration by the house of a motion under Section 13(1)(b) of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, and then to motions relating to that withdrawal and the United Kingdom’s future relationship with the European Union other than any motion moved under Section 13(1)(b) of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018;
(c) if more than one motion related to the business of the house is tabled, the speaker shall decide which motion shall have precedence;
d) the speaker shall interrupt proceedings on any business before the business of the house motion having precedence at 2.00 pm on Wednesday 27 March and call a member to move that motion;
(e) debate on that motion may continue until 3.00 pm on Wednesday 27 March at which time the speaker shall put the questions necessary to dispose of proceedings on the motion including the questions on amendments selected by the speaker which may then be moved;
(f) when those proceedings have been concluded, the speaker shall call a member to move one of the other motions having precedence;
(g) any proceedings interrupted or superseded by this order or an order arising from the business of the house motion may be resumed or (as the case may be) entered upon and proceeded with after the moment of interruption on Wednesday 27 March.”
The debate is over.
Labour decides not to move its amendment.
That means MPs go straight on to the Letwin amendment, which is being voted on now.
This means, if the government does get defeated on Letwin, the result will get onto the 10 o’clock news.
Richard Harrington, the pro-European business minister, has resigned, the BBC says.
Richard Harrington, business minister, has resigned according to govt source
Barclay says, if MPs do not pass the withdrawal agreement this week, they risk a longer article 50 extension.
But, if MPs vote for the deal, the UK can be out of the EU within weeks, he says.
Ken Clarke, the pro-European, asks Barclay when the government will schedule its own indicative votes process.
Barclay says these questions were addressed at the start of the debate.
He says Labour criticised the government for not committing to definitely accepting the results of the indicative votes process. But Sir Keir Starmer said Labour would not automatically accept the results either, he says.
Stephen Barclay, the Brexit secretary, is winding up for the government now.
He says the central question at stake is, who controls the order paper?
He says the government has promised its own version of indicative votes.
The SNP’s Stephen Gethins intervenes. Will Barclay be voting for the case he is making in his speech? (Two weeks ago Barclay defended the government motion saying article 50 should be extended at the despatch box, and then voted against it in a free vote.)
Barclay says defends his speech in the debate two weeks ago, saying he criticised amendments that he voted against.
Sir Oliver Letwin says, if the government objects to the amendment coming from a backbencher, it could adopt it itself.
Barclay says David Lidington addressed this argument earlier.
Chapman says indicative votes should not include unacceptable options, like no deal, or “unicorns”, like the Brady amendment.
Jenny Chapman, the shadow Brexit minister, is now winding up for the opposition.
She says different MPs have different views on how indicative votes could be carried out.
She says the Labour amendment and the Letwin amendment both avoid being prescriptive on this point.
From Sky’s Lewis Goodall
Could easily imagine Letwin failing tonight but Beckett passing. Then next week becomes the week before last all over again. House votes against no deal, for extension of a50 and the Brexit merry go round of hell goes on.
The SNP’s Tommy Sheppard is speaking now. He says ministers complain that the Letwin amendment would alter the balance of power between the executive and the legislature. That is exactly what it should be passed, he says.The SNP’s Tommy Sheppard is speaking now. He says ministers complain that the Letwin amendment would alter the balance of power between the executive and the legislature. That is exactly what it should be passed, he says.
In the debate Owen Smith is speaking now. He says he made the case for a second referendum when he challenged Jeremy Corbyn for the Labour leadership unsuccessfully in 2016.In the debate Owen Smith is speaking now. He says he made the case for a second referendum when he challenged Jeremy Corbyn for the Labour leadership unsuccessfully in 2016.
Speaking in favour of the Lewin amendment, he says he is worried that, if there are indicative votes, the government will try to “bamboozle” MPs by offering them a whole smorgasbord of options, including a second referendum.Speaking in favour of the Lewin amendment, he says he is worried that, if there are indicative votes, the government will try to “bamboozle” MPs by offering them a whole smorgasbord of options, including a second referendum.
But that would be “tricksy” and “deceitful”, he says, because a second referendum is a process matter, not an eventual outcome. He says he hopes the speaker would not allow this.But that would be “tricksy” and “deceitful”, he says, because a second referendum is a process matter, not an eventual outcome. He says he hopes the speaker would not allow this.
In a fraught meeting of Tory Brexiters in the European Research Group tonight, the group’s chair Jacob Rees-Mogg told supporters he would back the prime minister’s deal if May could secure the support of the DUP.
Inside the room however, the loudest thumping on the desk came after an emotional speech by the DUP’s Sammy Wilson railing against the deal, saying it could see Northern Ireland separated from Great Britain under the terms of the backstop.
MPs leaving the room were in anxious disagreement about the path ahead. “We have got to make them see sense and see that we could lose Brexit forever if we vote this down,” one MP said.
Another said they did not feel now was the moment to cave. “If we give in now, we will never know what we could have achieved,” another said. “I am appalled by it all and disgusted and the British people are never going to forgive us.”
Nick Boles, one of the Conservative MPs who has backed the Letwin amendment, says he was not impressed by David Lidington’s offer at the start of the debate of an alternative government procedure. (See 6.10pm.)
There is no Cabinet minister who enjoys greater trust in the House than David Lidington. But his offer of government time to debate alternatives is hopeless without full details of how it will work, how voting will be conducted etc. We must press on.
Govt sources still expecting to lose vote on Letwin but as ever, situation seems a bit more fluid than people thought at the beginning of the day as the time for the vote's actually approaching
Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, is urging MPs to back the Letwin amendment.
Last week, the EU saw that the PM had no coherent or deliverable #Brexit plan and decided to come up with one for her. The Commons must do the same tonight.
This is what the Conservative MP Charlie Elphicke thinks about the prospect of pro-European ministers resigning to vote for the Letwin amendment.
Beyond ridicule that Conservative Government Ministers - who are meant to be governing the country remember - threaten to quit so they can allow a cross party group of MPs led by Labour to govern in their place. https://t.co/UdxTduDEI8
At various stages in the Brexit process there have been reports about pro-European ministers threatening to resign en masse if they don’t get some concession from the government. Those threats have always been withdrawn - normally (but not always) after Number 10 shifted a bit towards what the pro-Europeans wanted.
According to ITV’s Robert Peston, something similar seems to be happening again.
BREAKING 1) @oletwinofficial telling supporters he's anxious that in the end he may not have the votes for his parliament-takes-control-of-Brexit motion. 2) Remainy ministers contemplating now whether they have to resign tonight to get his motion over the line. 3) @theresa_may...
was warned tonight by Gaukward squad of ministers - Gauke, Rudd, Clark, Mundell, etc - there could be 30 ministerial resignations on Wednesday if free vote on indicative votes not allowed (subject to Letwin motion passing or @SteveBarclay promising...
government-sponsored version of indicative votes when he winds up debate in an hour). It is all still very messy
Steve Baker, one of the Tory Brexiter invited to Chequers yesterday, says he and his colleagues are not calling themselves “Grand Wizards”.
No, it’s not for real https://t.co/AV5MbiLu5U
The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, who revealed the use of the nickname (see 7.44pm), says it was never intended to be derogatory.
just catching up on timeline, for avoidance of doubt, couple of insiders told me using the nickname informally, no intended connection to anything else
This is from the Conservative MP Damian Collins, who says he will vote for the Letwin amendment tonight.
I will be voting for Oliver Letwin’s amendment (a) tonight to give @HouseofCommons the right to vote for alternative solutions to the Brexit deadlock. We cannot keep going round in circles. It’s time to decide on Brexit and for parliament to demonstrate which solution it supports
Collins was not one of the 15 Tories who defied the whip to vote for the Hilary Benn indicative votes amendment two weeks ago.
This is from my colleague Jessica Elgot.
Labour source says they do not think Letwin amendment on indicative votes is going to pass.... would be big turnaround from government assumptions this morning
A government source has denied Jeremy Corbyn’s claim that Theresa May suggested splitting the vote on the withdrawal agreement from the vote on the political declaration when they met at lunchtime earlier. (See 3.06pm.) The source said it was simply being explained to Labour side that the EU summit conclusions published last week - which could see article 50 extended to May 22 - referred only to the withdrawal agreement. “It was a clarification that came up in the course of a wider conversation,” the source said.
The source said that in order to satisfy the terms of the EU Withdrawal Act, the Commons “meaningful vote” had to cover both the withdrawal agreement and the political declaration.