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Boris Johnson at risk of defeat as MPs start debating move to allow bill to prevent no-deal Brexit – live news Brexit: Boris Johnson at risk of Commons defeat as MPs debate move against no deal – live news
(32 minutes later)
Dominic Grieve, a Tory rebel, intervenes. He says Rees-Mogg talked about the need for parliament to scrutinise the executive. Yet the government is proroguing parliament for longer than needed. He says the government has also not always been honest, as when it said Operation Yellowhammer was a document produced by the old government. and the government has not been honest about the reasons for prorogation, he says. When these issues are considered together, you can see why people do not trust the government, Grieve says. Rees-Mogg says the public gave MPs an instruction.
He says if the bill passes tomorrow, MPs will either have to accept the backstop, accept endless Brexit delays or revoke article 50 altogether.
He says today’s motion is “the most unconstitutional use of this house since the days of Charles Stewart Parnell, when he tried to bung up parliament”.
He quotes AV Dicey, the Victorian jurist, saying that political conventions are there to ensure that the will of the people gets enacted.
Parliament should accept the will of the nation, he says.
Sovereignty comes from the people to parliament. It does not come out of a void ... We should recognise that the people are our masters, and show ourselves to be their liege and servants.
Rees-Mogg ends by urging MPs to “consider the chaos this concatenation of circumstances could create”.
Rees-Mogg says the bill involves a deliberate attempt to allow an extension long enough to allow a second piece of legislation, or to allow Brexit to be revoked.
He says this procedure could be used again to have a further Brexit delay.
This would create a marionette government, he says.
Rees-Mogg says the bill will not deliver certainty on Brexit. It is nothing but “legislative legerdemain”, he says.
Hilary Benn, the Labour chair of the Brexit committee, and the principal sponsor of the bill to be debated tomorrow if this motion passes, asks how he can say there is anything wrong with this procedure given that the Speaker has approved it.
Rees-Mogg says there is a difference between irregular and improper. This procedure might not be improper, but it is irregular, he says.
Here is the Labour MP Liz Kendall on Jacob Rees-Mogg’s performance.
Rees-Mogg visibly enraging Tory MPs who I would have thought he should be trying to persuade to back the government. Never seen such cold hard anger.
Rees-Mogg says parliamentary rules (the ones he has accuses John Bercow of subverting) are there to protect people from tyranny. He says there is a tried and tested means of removing an unpopular government - a confidence vote. But Labour has not tabled one, because it is afraid of losing, he claims.
Protesters chanting “stop the coup” have begun marching past the Houses of Parliament, the Press Association is reporting. Purple, red and green smoke was released at the front of the column of demonstrators who are blocking the road from Parliament Square leading up to College Green in Westminster.
Rees-Mogg turns to the detail of the bill.
He says the provisions that would allow another similar bill to be debated on day two of the next session of parliament, if this one does not pass the Lords, would interrupt the Queen’s speech.
The SNP’s David Linden asks for an assurance that, if the bill passes the Commons and the Lords, the government will not try to stop it getting royal assent.
Rees-Mogg says the government will follow the law.
Rees-Mogg accuses Letwin of “stunning arrogance”. He says Letwin has misunderstood parliament. Its authority comes from the people, he argues (which is why he says it should not be challenging the referendum result).
John Bercow, the Speaker, intervenes. He says he is satisfied that his judgment is correct. Although SO24 motions are normally in neutral terms, he says the SO24 procedure has been used for what he would call more “evaluative motions”. He cites a debate on 18 March 2013 (a debate on plans for a royal charter on press conduct) and a debate on 11 December 2018 (a debate on Theresa May shelving the ‘meaningful vote’). Both of these took place under SO24.
Bercow says all he is doing is allowing parliament to debate an important issue.
He insists that he will not be thrown off course, and he ends his peroration on this by quoting Boris Johnson, saying he will carry on “do or die”.
Rees-Mogg turns to the point about the Speaker’s decision to allow this debate.
He says he is not challenging John Bercow’s impartiality. But impartiality is not the same as infallibility, he says.
Dominic Grieve, a Tory rebel, intervenes. He says Rees-Mogg talked about the need for parliament to scrutinise the executive. Yet the government is proroguing parliament for longer than needed. He says the government has also not always been honest, as when it said Operation Yellowhammer was a document produced by the old government. And the government has not been honest about the reasons for prorogation, he says. When these issues are considered together, you can see why people do not trust the government, Grieve says.
Rees-Mogg says Grieve is wrong. He says the decision to prorogue was routine.Rees-Mogg says Grieve is wrong. He says the decision to prorogue was routine.
Ken Clarke, the Tory pro-European, intervenes. He challenges Rees-Mogg’s claim that it would be acceptable for the UK to have to follow WTO rules. That would involve high tariffs. And it would require a hard border in Ireland. He says he cannot see why Rees-Mogg thinks that would not damage the economy.Ken Clarke, the Tory pro-European, intervenes. He challenges Rees-Mogg’s claim that it would be acceptable for the UK to have to follow WTO rules. That would involve high tariffs. And it would require a hard border in Ireland. He says he cannot see why Rees-Mogg thinks that would not damage the economy.
Rees-Mogg says he is surprised Clarke is surprised by what he said. He has been making the case for WTO rules for some time, he says.Rees-Mogg says he is surprised Clarke is surprised by what he said. He has been making the case for WTO rules for some time, he says.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, is speaking for the government.Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, is speaking for the government.
He says people voted to leave the EU. MPs must respect that decision.He says people voted to leave the EU. MPs must respect that decision.
He says today’s procedure is constitutionally irregular.He says today’s procedure is constitutionally irregular.
(He is referring to the fact that John Bercow, the Speaker, is allowing an SO24 emergency debate to pass a motion giving MPs control of the order paper tomorrow. In the past they have always been used for neutral motions with no practical effect. Earlier this year Bercow indicated that he was willing to allow the procedure to be used more creatively than it was in the past.)(He is referring to the fact that John Bercow, the Speaker, is allowing an SO24 emergency debate to pass a motion giving MPs control of the order paper tomorrow. In the past they have always been used for neutral motions with no practical effect. Earlier this year Bercow indicated that he was willing to allow the procedure to be used more creatively than it was in the past.)
He says this motion risks subverting parliament’s role in scrutinising the executive.He says this motion risks subverting parliament’s role in scrutinising the executive.
Corbyn says he understands that MPs have some concerns about the Benn bill being debated tomorrow - that it is seen as trying to reverse Brexit.
But that is not the case, he says.
He says this bill is just about providing “vital breathing space” to allow MPs to find a way through this mess.
He says if MPs do not back this motion, they may not get another chance.
Whether people voted leave or remain, they did not vote to shut down democracy.
He says he urges MPs to do what they think is right for their constituencies.
As the debate goes on I will be updating some earlier posts to include direct quotes from MPs where the original post just featured reported speech. To get the updates to appear, you may need to refresh the page.
Corbyn says it is wrong to say that blocking a no-deal Brexit will hold up momentum towards a Brexit deal - because there is no momentum towards such a deal.
Jeremy Corbyn is now speaking for Labour.
He says this is the last chance MPs will have to stop a no-deal Brexit.
He says he understands that the mood is volatile. But if MPs want to stop a no-deal Brexit, they have to act now. He says MPs have faced bullying from their own side. But he says he has some words of encouragement: standing by your principles does not always damage your career prospects, he says.
(Corbyn is talking about himself, he says. He became Labour leader in 2015, when no one would have predicted that even six months earlier, after a lifetime of principled opposition to many things done by governments of both parties.)
Letwin says the motion today is just about allowing time for MPs to debate the bill tomorrow designed to stop a no-deal Brexit by 31 October.
He says it will be hard for the government to get a deal by 31 January – the deadline for an extension set out in the Benn bill.
But he says there is no chance of the government getting a deal by 31 October.
It’s to provide the government with the time to seek to solve this problem and to enable parliament to help to resolve an issue which has proved very difficult.
I don’t say it’s easy to do by 31 January, but I’m sure that it will not be done by 31 October. We are between a rock and a hard place, and in this instance the hard place is better than the rock. It is as simple as that. It’s decision time
If honourable members across the house want to prevent a no-deal exit on 31 October they will have the opportunity to do so if, but only if, they vote for this motion this evening. I hope they will do so.
Letwin says he has proposed his plan because of four facts.
First, the government has not come up with a plan for a Brexit deal, he says.
Over the last six weeks the government has not produced a single indication of any viable proposal to replace the backstop by any alternative likely to prove acceptable to the EU.
The likelihood of the government reaching a deal at the council meeting on October 17 and 18 on the terms the government itself has set is accordingly slight.
Second, he says this week is the last chance MPs will have to block a no deal Brexit.
Third, he says the government has said it is willing to go ahead with no-deal.
And, fourth, he says a no-deal would be a serious threat to the country.
He says Boris Johnson is like someone standing on one side of a canyon shouting to people on the other side that, if they do not do as he says, he will jump off.
MPs are now starting the SO24 debate.
Sir Oliver Letwin, the former Cabinet Office minister, is moving the motion that he has tabled. See 12.24pm for an explanation of what it says.
An application for an #emergencydebate on the European Union (Withdrawal) has been submitted. The Speaker will consider it later today. If successful, the debate takes precedence over today's scheduled business under Standing Order 24.https://t.co/mmWOWfREgI pic.twitter.com/vnZFlbNRBA
George Osborne, the Evening Standard editor and former Tory chancellor, says Nicholas Soames is following in the footsteps of his grandfather.
To be fair, the Tory Party also tried to deselect his grandfather in the 1930s https://t.co/7dlnWRmrHm
But Churchill never was deselected by the Tories. He did, however, do a Phillip Lee and join the Liberals before the first world war.
Chris Philp is now proposing his 10-minute rule bill on clean air. It probably won’t take a full 10 minutes.
Bone rises to make a point of order. He complains that Letwin did not follow the right procedure. Bercow tells him that Letwin did lodge his application properly.