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Brexit: MPs to vote on alternative plans as speculation mounts May could announce decision to quit - live news
Brexit: May faces Corbyn at PMQs amid speculation she could announce decision to quit – live news
(32 minutes later)
Sir Peter Bottomley, a Conservative, says the PM’s deal has not passed parliament because of those who want to stay in the EU, hardline Brexiters and Labour. But most people in the country want it to pass.
May says that is the message she gets from the public too.
Labour has now put out a statement effectively confirming that it is backing the Becket confirmatory referendum amendment. (See 9.33am, 10.58am and 11.58am.) A spokesperson said:
In line with our policy, we’re supporting motions to keep options on the table to prevent a bad Tory deal or no deal.
The Beckett amendment actually goes further than the Labour statement it implies. It says any amendment should be subject to a referendum. It says:
That this house will not allow in this parliament the implementation and ratification of any withdrawal agreement and any framework for the future relationship unless and until they have been approved by the people of the United Kingdom in a confirmatory public vote.
The SNP leader at Westminster, Ian Blackford, asks May if she has a sense of responsibility for what she is doing on Brexit.
May says she is trying to deliver Brexit.
Blackford says he was at the march for a second referendum on Saturday. Some 6m people have signed the petition calling for article 50 to be revoked. Will May accept the will of parliament, or will she continue to be held hostage by the hard right and the DUP?
May says she is delivering on the referendum result. Blackford wants to stay in the EU. That means staying in the common agricultural policy and the common fisheries policy, which would not be in the interests of Scottish farmers or Scottish fishermen.
May says epetitions are subject to checks to ensure they are not manipulated by foreign powers.
Corbyn says May has not been able to guarantee dynamic alignment on workers’ standards. He says Harrington said in his resignation letter May should find a consensus negotiating position. If one emerges, will May accept it as the basis for her negotiating position?
May says the objective they should all have is delivering Brexit. She says she has been clear on non-regression on workers’ rights. She says Corbyn is shaking his head (probably because non-regression is not the same as dynamic alignment). She says she will listen to what parliament has to say about matching new rights offered by the EU.
Corbyn says May did not answer the question about whether she would accept what the Commons decided. She says May is unable to compromise, unable to unite the country, and unable to govern. She should change course, or go.
May says she answered the question on accepting the result of MPs’ decision in the Commons on Monday. For Labour Keir Starmer also refused to commit to what MPs decided, she says. She says Labour would give the UK capital flight, a run on the pound and a drop in living standards. Corbyn is the biggest threat to living standards, she says.
Corbyn says the TUC and the CBI back a customs union as part of a deal. So it is strange for a Conservative PM to reject what business wants. Why won’t she consider a customs union?
May says Corbyn should have listened to her earlier answer. Corbyn stood on a platform saying he wanted the UK to be able to strike its own trade deal. And now he wants a referendum too. Whatever happened to straight-talking, honest politics?
Corbyn says many of May’s colleagues want a race to the bottom. Quoting what Richard Harrington said when he resigned as business minister, he asks why she is pressing ahead with her deal.
May says she does not support a race to the bottom. The government has enhanced workers’ rights, she says. As Labour MPs jeer, she says Labour can never stand it when told the Tories stand up for workers.
Jeremy Corbyn asks May what her plan B is.
May says she has a deal that can deliver Brexit for the British people. Other options do not do that.
Corbyn says May’s deal has been defeated twice, by in one case the largest ever majority for a government defeat. Does May agree backing a customs union is the best way of getting her deal over the line?
May says her deal delivers the benefits of a customs union, while allowing the UK to negotiate independent trade deals. Corbyn used to want that too, she says. She says the UK wants to negotiate trade in its own interests.
The Tory Brexiter Andrew Bridgen says May said on more than 100 occasions the UK would leave the EU on 29 March. Now, because of our EU masters, we are not doing that. He says he constituents will never trust her again.
May says she can deliver on Brexit if MPs like Bridgen back her deal.
The SNP’s Stewart Hosie says Brexit is costing the UK £1bn a week in lost growth. It is not the fault of the EU, or of MPs voting with their consciences. So will May admit it is her fault? And when will she resign?
May says the Brexit deal delivers on the result of the referendum. She accepts that result, unlike Hosie, she says.
Theresa May starts by saying she will chair a summit on serious violence next week.
John Bercow, the Speaker, starts PMQs by saying Woody Johnson, the US ambassador, is in the gallery.
From ITV’s Robert Peston
Labour MPs are being whipped to support the Beckett/Kyle/Wilson indicative vote motion that promotes Brexit referendum
So that means Peter Kyle was right, and Barry Gardiner was wrong. See 9.33am.
PMQs is about to start.
Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.
I normally post a snap verdict after the May/Corbyn exchanges, on the grounds that for most people this is the highlight, but today I will do it at the end because May’s exchanges with her own MPs may be just as interesting.
And John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, said this morning that what Barry Gardiner said on the Today programme about the Beckett confirmatory referendum amendment being difficult for the party (see 9.33am) was in line with party policy. Asked if he agreed with Gardiner about Labour not being a remain party, McDonnell said:
And John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, said this morning that what Barry Gardiner said on the Today programme about the Beckett confirmatory referendum amendment being difficult for the party (see 9.33am) was in line with party policy. Asked if he agreed with Gardiner about Labour not being a remain party, McDonnell said:
We had to accept in our manifesto respect for the referendum result. We campaigned for remain, we lost, we have to accept that.
We had to accept in our manifesto respect for the referendum result. We campaigned for remain, we lost, we have to accept that.
We have to be honest with people. If there was another referendum now I personally would vote for remain because I think that is best for the country.
We have to be honest with people. If there was another referendum now I personally would vote for remain because I think that is best for the country.
What he is saying is exactly in line with party policy. We have got to prevent a new deal, prevent a bad deal, advocate for our own policy, try to get a general election if we can, but failing that, if there is a logjam, yes we will if necessary go back to the people.
What he is saying is exactly in line with party policy. We have got to prevent a new deal, prevent a bad deal, advocate for our own policy, try to get a general election if we can, but failing that, if there is a logjam, yes we will if necessary go back to the people.
Dame Margaret Beckett, the Labour MP, has said she expects the party to back her confirmatory referendum amendment. She said:
I rest my understanding on what I heard Jeremy Corbyn, who is the leader of the Labour Party, say at the despatch box, which is that we will apply the principle on going back to the people for confirmation to any decision that we’ve reached. And that’s where we stand.
This morning party sources were saying the decision on how to whip on this amendment had not yet been taken. (See 10.58am.)
This is from Nigel Dodds, the DUP leader at Westminster.
We will be supporting this way forward in the vote later today pic.twitter.com/F4YKywAJfY
In the European parliament this morning Nigel Farage, the former Ukip leader who now sits as a Brexit party MEP, said it was “inevitable” that the UK was heading for a delay to its departure from the EU. He told MEPs:
You should ask yourselves: ‘Do you really want that? Do you really want Brexit to utterly dominate the next couple of years of your business to the exclusion of your many other ambitions?
Do you really want the UK to contest the European elections, to send back a very large number of Leave MEPs, just at a time when you are fighting populism - as you see it - across the continent?
And, to cries of “No” from some MEPs and “Yes” from others, he asked: “Do you really want me back in this place?”
The EU chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, replied:
Mr Farage, no-one in Brussels is trying to steal Brexit from you, no-one is trying to undo the vote of the British people.
It is not Brussels that decided that the UK would leave the EU. You were the ones who made that choice and you are the ones who have to take your responsibility and face up to the consequences of that decision. No-one else.
Dominic Cummings, the Vote Leave campaign director, has posted a blog responding to the Commons privileges committee report saying he should be admonished for being in contempt of parliament. (See 11.06am.) He says he did offer to give evidence to the culture committee, and then to the privileges committee.
But what is more interesting is what he says about the current state of Brexit.
Cummings condemns hardline Brexiters in the European Research Group as “delusional” and “useful idiots”. He says:
Those of you in the narcissist-delusional subset of the ERG who have spent the last three years scrambling for the 810 Today slot while spouting gibberish about trade and the law across SW1 — i.e exactly the contemptible behaviour that led to your enforced marginalisation during the referendum and your attempt to destroy Vote Leave — you are also in the pirate category. You were useful idiots for Remain during the campaign and with every piece of bullshit from Bill Cash et al you have helped only Remain for three years. Remember how you WELCOMED the backstop as a ‘triumph’ in December 2017 when it was obvious to everybody who knew what was going on — NOT the Cabinet obviously — that this effectively ended the ‘negotiations’? Remember how Bernard Jenkin wrote on ConHome that he didn’t have to ‘ruin his weekend’ reading the document to know it was another success for the natural party of government — bringing to mind very clearly how during the referendum so many of you guys were too busy shooting or skiing or chasing girls to do any actual work. You should be treated like a metastasising tumour and excised from the UK body politic.
Cummings has been contemptuous of backbench Tory Brexiters in the Commons for years. During the EU referendum campaign he used to refer to them as the “flying monkeys”.
He suggests the UK could in future abandon any commitments it makes to the EU as part of the Brexit settlement. In a message directed at Vote Leave activists, he says:
Also, don’t worry about the so-called ‘permanent’ commitments this historically abysmal cabinet are trying to make on our behalf. They are not ‘permanent’ and a serious government — one not cowed by officials and their bullshit ‘legal advice’ with which they have herded ministers like sheep — will dispense with these commitments and any domestic law enforcing them.
Cummings used to be an adviser to Michael Gove, the environment secretary, when Gove was education secretary. Gove has also suggested that over time the UK could harden up any Brexit settlement, although he has not gone as far as Cummings, who is suggesting the UK could easily renege on any promises made to the EU.
(Cummings seems to be forgetting that they do read this stuff in Brussels. That’s one of the reasons why the EU has been determined to ensure the withdrawal agreement is legally watertight.)
The campaign director of the official Leave campaign, Dominic Cummings has been found to be in contempt of Parliament after he failed to appear before MPs investigating fake news. As the Press Association reports, the Commons privileges committee said in a report that Cummings’ refusal to give oral evidence constituted a “significant interference” in the work of the inquiry. However it acknowledged its sanctions were limited to recommending the Commons issue a formal “admonishment” for his conduct, raising questions about its enforcement powers. The admonishment would require a resolution of the House which, if passed, “should be communicated to Cummings by the clerk of the house”, the committee said in its report.
Cummings was found in contempt because he refused to appear before the Commons culture committee to give evidence for its “fake news” and disinformation inquiry. Damian Collins, the chair of the culture committee, said:
The Dominic Cummings case highlights the need for Parliament to define in law what its powers should be to require witnesses to attend hearings, and what sanctions should apply if they do not. The current powers have been tested to their limits and found wanting.
Tom Watson, the Labour deputy leader, has said that, regardless of what his shadow cabinet colleague Barry Gardiner said on the Today programme about the confirmatory public vote amendment (see 9.33am), he will be backing the amendment.
I've had many calls about Barry Gardiner's interview on @BBCr4today, which I missed. Whipping arrangement have not yet been agreed. I support the Kyle/Wilson amendment.
The Labour MP Wes Streeting has also rejected Gardiner’s argument.
All three are possibilities. One thing’s for sure: I will be resuming my role as a membership retention hotline in the coming days to ask passionately pro-European Labour members not to leave. Again. https://t.co/SvH7FCLm07
And the Labour MP Jess Phillips has too.
Triangulation will not work. We cannot be all things to all people and they know that, they are ok with that. I find people don't mind if they don't agree with you, if you are clear, principled and honest. Fudge it and they smell you out a mile off. https://t.co/goWrSMvog3
Labour sources are saying the party has not yet decided whether its MPs will be whipped to vote for or against the confirmatory public vote amendment, or whether they will be given a free vote.
Guy Verhofstadt, the European parliament’s lead Brexit spokesman, has been tweeting ahead of this afternoon’s Commons vote.
After the negative votes of the last weeks, on Monday the House of Commons finally voted in favour of something: Mr Letwin's amendment. My hope? After more than two years, this is the start of a cross-party cooperation to break the deadlock. #Brexit #EPlenary
A majority to break the #Brexit deadlock will never have the support of the so-called hard brexiters. The only thing that counts for them is to seize power inside the Tory party. This is not in the national interest of the country.
We are open to change the Political Declaration. First of all, by turning it into a more binding agreement between the EU and the UK. Secondly, by creating a deeper and broader relationship in the interest of both Britain and the European Union. #Brexit #EPlenary
Verhofstadt also says the People’s Vote march in London at the weekend would mark the beginning of the campaign to take the UK back into the EU.
(People’s Vote will not necessarily welcome this. They are still hoping to get a referendum that might stop the UK leaving in the first place.)
The seed for Britain’s return to the European Union was planted last weekend by marching in London & nearly six million signing the article 50 petition.We need a deep EU-UK relationship that one day, I’m pretty sure, will lead Britain back into the family of European nations. pic.twitter.com/Tsvc8Udrok
The Financial Times’ political editor, George Parker, says any offer by Theresa May to agree to stand down in return for Tory Brexiters backing her Brexit deal might not be spelt out in public.
1) May team are discussing with IDS/Graham Brady a timetable for her to quit which might not involve her announcing it publicly before MV3. This would avoid the unseemly impression that some Tory MPs (eg Boris) were backing the deal for base motiveshttps://t.co/722DPjXl4Q
2) However, there would be an understanding she would announce her departure when/if the ERG deliver the votes and get the deal over the line. Because there is "not much trust", ERG would reserve right to vote down Withdrawal Agreement bill at 2nd reading, if she reneges
Some Tory Brexiters have been openly calling for May’s resignation, while others, like Boris Johnson (here), have been making the same demand more obliquely, stressing the need for new leadership in the next phase of the Brexit process.
There are 16 Brexit plans on the order paper for today’s debate. The Speaker, John Bercow, will announce which ones will be put to a vote, probably when the debate proper starts at about 3pm.
You can read them all on the order paper here (pdf).
And here is a Press Association guide to what they all are.
Labour plan
Labour has tabled a motion proposing its plan for a close economic relationship with the EU. The plan includes a comprehensive customs union with a UK say on future trade deals; close alignment with the single market; matching new EU rights and protections; participation in EU agencies and funding programmes; and agreement on future security arrangements, including access to the European arrest warrant.
Common market 2.0
Tabled by Conservatives Nick Boles, Robert Halfon and Andrew Percy and Labour’s Stephen Kinnock, Lucy Powell and Diana Johnson. The motion proposes UK membership of the European free trade association and European Economic Area. It allows continued participation in the single market and a “comprehensive customs arrangement” with the EU after Brexit, which would remain in place until the agreement of a wider trade deal which guarantees frictionless movement of goods and an open border in Ireland.
Confirmatory public vote
Drawn up by Labour MPs Peter Kyle and Phil Wilson and tabled by former foreign secretary Dame Margaret Beckett with the backing of scores of MPs across the House, this motion would require a public vote to confirm any Brexit deal passed by parliament before its ratification.
Customs union
Requires a commitment to negotiate a “permanent and comprehensive UK-wide customs union with the EU” in any Brexit deal. Tabled by veteran Conservative Europhile Ken Clarke, backed by Labour’s Yvette Cooper, Helen Goodman and chair of the Commons Brexit committee Hilary Benn and Tory former ministers Sir Oliver Letwin and Sarah Newton.
Malthouse compromise Plan A
A cross-party proposal calls for Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement to be implemented with the controversial “backstop” for the Irish border replaced by alternative arrangements. Backed by Conservatives from both the leave and remain wings of the party, including Nicky Morgan, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Damian Green, Steve Baker and Sir Graham Brady, as well as the DUP’s Nigel Dodds and Labour Brexiteer Kate Hoey.
Revoke article 50
Under this plan, if the government has not passed its withdrawal agreement, it would have to stage a vote on a no-deal Brexit two sitting days before the scheduled date of departure. If MPs refuse to authorise no-deal, the prime minister would be required to halt Brexit by revoking article 50. The motion, tabled by the SNP’s Joanna Cherry, has been signed by 33 MPs including Conservative former attorney general Dominic Grieve, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable, Labour’s Ben Bradshaw and all 11 members of The Independent Group.
Revocation instead of no deal
Under this plan, the government is called on to “urgently” bring forward any legislation needed to revoke article 50 “in the event that the house fails to approve any withdrawal agreement four days before the end of the article 50 period”. It has been signed by 28 MPs, including the SNP’s Angus Brendan MacNeil and Tory MP Ken Clarke.
New customs union
Tabled by Labour’s MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central Gareth Snell, this motion simply states that it should be the government’s objective to implement a trade agreement including a customs union with the EU. It mirrors an amendment to the trade bill secured by Labour peers in the House of Lords.
EEA/EFTA without customs union
A motion tabled by Conservative MP George Eustice - who quit as agriculture minister this month to fight for Brexit - proposes remaining within the EEA and rejoining EFTA, but remaining outside a customs union with the EU. The motion was also signed by Conservative MPs including former minister Nicky Morgan and head of the Brexit Delivery Group Simon Hart.
No deal
Backed by Conservative MPs John Baron, David Amess, Martin Vickers and Stephen Metcalfe, the motion proposes leaving the European Union without a deal on April 12.
Unilateral right of exit from backstop
The same four Tory MPs, as well as Andrew Percy and Neil Parish, have also backed a motion to leave the EU on May 22 with Mrs May’s withdrawal agreement amended to allow the UK to unilaterally exit the Northern Ireland backstop.
Consent of devolved institutions
Backed by SNP MPs including Ian Blackford, Kirsty Blackman and Stephen Gethins, this motion requires an agreement that the UK will not leave without a deal, and that no action for leaving the EU will be taken without a consent motion passed in both the Scottish parliament and the Welsh assembly.
Contingent preferential arrangements
A group of Conservative MPs, including Marcus Fysh, Steve Baker and Priti Patel, have signed a motion that calls for the government to seek to agree preferential trade arrangements with the EU, in case the UK is unable to implement a withdrawal agreement with the bloc.
Contingent reciprocal arrangements
A similar group of Tory MPs have backed a proposal calling for the government to “at least reciprocate the arrangements put in place by the EU and or its member states to manage the period following the UK’s departure from the EU”, in case the UK is unable to implement a withdrawal agreement.
Respect the referendum results
A cross-party proposal, signed by 94 MPs including the Conservatives’ Will Quince, Labour’s Frank Field and the DUP’s Nigel Dodds, urges the house to “reaffirm its commitment to honour the result of the referendum that the UK should leave the European Union”.
Constitutional and accountable government
Tabled by Sir Bill Cash and other Tory Brexiters, this backs leaving the EU, rejects the government’s withdrawal agreement and proposes changing Commons standing orders so that a two-thirds majority would be needed to allow any fresh attempt to allow indicative votes debates to take precedence over government business on any given day.
Good morning. We are two days before the date originally set for the UK’s departure from the EU and in the Commons they have gone back to the drawing board, holding a debate and votes on up to 16 alternative Brexit plans. And 7% of people still think the government is handling this process well.
Here is our overnight preview story.
Tory Brexiters want May resignation date in order to back deal
And here are the main developments this morning.
Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the Commons, has said the government hopes to be able to hold a third vote on Theresa May’s Brexit deal later this week. In an interview on the Today programme she said:
I think that there is a real possibility that it does. We are completely determined to make sure that we can get enough support to bring it back.
Leadsom refused to comment on speculation that May could tell Tory MPs tonight that she will stand down as prime minister if her deal gets passed. “I am fully supporting the prime minister to get us out of the European Union,” Leadsom said.
Barry Gardiner, the shadow international trade secretary, has said that Labour could have difficulty backing a plan for a confirmatory public vote on any Brexit agreement. The amendment was originally drawn up by the Labour MPs Peter Kyle and Phil Wilson, but is on today’s order paper with Dame Margaret Beckett as the lead signatory. In an interview on the Today programme, Gardiner said that if Labour voted for it, that could suggest it was a remain party, which was not the case. He said, under the terms of the motion, a referendum could be a choice between May’s deal or staying in the EU. He went on:
It would be saying we could accept what we have always said is a very bad deal. Therefore it looks as if the attempt to have a public vote on it is simply a way of trying to remain because nobody likes this deal.
To put that up as the only alternative in a public vote and say we will let it go through looks as though you believe that at the end of it remain would be the result.
It is not where our policy has been. Our policy is clearly that we would support a public vote to stop no-deal or to stop a bad deal, but not that we would allow a bad deal as long as the public had the opportunity to reject Brexit altogether.
That implies that you are a remain party. The Labour party is not a remain party now. We have accepted the result of the referendum.
But earlier Peter Kyle told the same programme that Jeremy Corbyn would order Labour MPs to back the Beckett amendment. He said:
[Corbyn] will order MPs to vote for this. We had a really constructive process of engaging with him. At no point was he instinctively against this.
Sir Oliver Letwin, the Conservative MP who tabled the amendment that set up today’s indicative votes process, said that if the government ignored the plan backed by most MPs, the Commons could legislate to force it to respond. He said that he did not expect there to be a majority for any one idea today, but that on Monday, when there is due to be another indicative votes debate, MPs could unite behind one plan. He went on:
If on Monday one or more propositions get a majority backing in the House of Commons, then we will have to work with the government to implement them.
The way I would hope it would happen under those circumstances is that we would have sensible, workmanlike discussions across the House of Commons and the government would move forward in an orderly fashion.
If the government didn’t agree to that, then those who I am working with across the parties will move to legislate to mandate the government - if we can obtain majorities in the House of Commons and House of Lords for that - to carry that forward.
Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, has said the almost 6m people who have signed the revoke article 50 petition should not be ignored. Speaking in a debate in the European parliament, he criticised those who say it would be unacceptable for the UK to have a long article 50 extension because it would have to hold European elections. He explained:
Let me be clear, such thinking is unacceptable.
You cannot betray the six million people who signed the petition to revoke article 50, the one million people who marched for a people’s vote, or the increasing majority of people who want to remain in the European Union.
They may feel that they are not sufficiently represented by their UK parliament, but they must feel that they are represented by you in this chamber because they are Europeans.
The government has formally responded to the revoke article 50 petition, saying no. It says:
This government will not revoke article 50. We will honour the result of the 2016 referendum and work with parliament to deliver a deal that ensures we leave the European Union.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leading Tory Brexiter and chair of the European Research Group, has used an article in the Daily Mail to apologise to his supporters for changing his mind on May’s Brexit deal. He is now ready to vote for it, he says, if the DUP backs it too, because the alternative could be a long delay to Brexit, leading to the UK staying in the EU.
Wednesday’s Daily Mail: "Mogg: Sorry, I WILL back May's deal" (via @AllieHBNews) #bbcpapers #tomorrowspaperstoday #Brexit pic.twitter.com/RRpogPYZ45
Another leading Brexiter, Boris Johnson, has also signalled he will vote for the deal. In a speech last night, reprinted on the Telegraph’s front page (paywall), he said:
If we vote for the PM’s lamentable withdrawal agreement we are skewered. We run the risk of either weakening the union, or else being forced to remain effectively part of the single market and customs union. But if we vote it down again there is now I think an appreciable risk that we will not leave at all.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Karen Bradley, the Northern Ireland secretary, gives evidence to the Northern Ireland affairs committee.
9.30am: The People’s Vote campaign holds a press conference.
10.30am: Michael Gove, the environment secretary, gives evidence to the Commons environment committee on Brexit.
12pm: Theresa May faces Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs.
After 1pm: MPs begin debating the business motion for today’s indicative votes debate.
After 3pm: MPs begin the indicative votes debate.
5pm: May addresses the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee.
7pm: MPs vote on the indicative votes options.
7.30pm: MPs debate the statutory instrument changing the date of Brexit set out in the EU Withdrawal Act.
Around 9.15pm: John Bercow, the speaker, announces the results of the indicative votes ballot.
Today I will be focusing exclusively on Brexit, and on the debate, and I will be bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web.
You can read all the latest Guardian politics articles here. Here is the Politico Europe round-up of this morning’s political news. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’s top 10 must-reads.
If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.
I try to monitor the comments BTL but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply ATL, although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.
If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter.
