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Brexit: MPs reject Labour plan for no-deal vote | |
(32 minutes later) | |
MPs have rejected a Labour-led effort to take control of Parliament's timetable, blocking the latest attempt to stop no-deal Brexit. | |
The Commons opposed the move by 309 votes to 298. | The Commons opposed the move by 309 votes to 298. |
If passed, it would have given opponents of a no-deal Brexit the chance to table legislation to thwart the UK leaving without any agreement on the 31 October deadline. | |
The result of the vote was greeted with cheers from the Tory benches. | |
But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn responded by shouting "you won't be cheering in September". | |
No 10 said giving MPs a "blank cheque" to dictate Brexit policy would have set a troubling precedent. | |
The UK was originally supposed to leave the EU on 29 March. | |
But the EU decided on a seven-month extension after MPs rejected the terms of withdrawal on three occasions. | |
Opponents of a no-deal exit are concerned that Theresa May's successor as prime minister could seek to take the UK out of the EU without parliamentary approval. | |
Tory leadership frontrunner Boris Johnson and several of his rivals have said the UK must leave the EU by the revised date, whether a deal is passed or not. | |
Tuesday's motion - supported by the Lib Dems, the SNP and Plaid Cymru, as well as some Conservatives, would not, by itself, have ruled out a no deal. | |
However, its supporters hoped to start a process on 25 June which could culminate with Parliament blocking the UK leaving without an agreement - in effect, tying the next prime minister's hands. | |
'Burning bomb' | |
Backing the motion, Conservative ex-minister Sir Oliver Letwin said the case for ensuring Parliament had a "decisive vote" on the next PM's Brexit plan ahead of the 31 October deadline transcended party politics. | |
With Parliament not due to sit for most of August or September, due to the six-week summer holidays and four-week party conference season, he said time was limited and it was critical MPs acted now. | |
"Although it isn't a fast-burning fuse, it is a bomb the fuse of which is already burning. If we don't put the fuse out now, we won't be able to disassemble the bomb in September or October." | |
But veteran eurosceptic, Conservative Sir Bill Cash said it was a "phantom motion" which paved the way for "government by Parliament". | |
"It just simply opens the door for any bill of any kind to take precedence over government business," he told by MPs. "It is inconceivable as a matter of constitutional convention." | |
This is not the first time that MPs have attempted seized control of the Commons order paper in order to shift government policy on Brexit. | |
MPs voted in March to oblige Mrs May to seek a Brexit delay from the EU. | |
But efforts by Sir Oliver and others to come up with an alternative Brexit plan failed in April after MPs rejected all the options in a series of indicative votes. |