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Brexit: Boris Johnson at risk of Commons defeat as MPs debate move against no deal – live news Brexit: Boris Johnson at risk of Commons defeat as MPs debate move against no deal – live news
(32 minutes later)
Yep looks like PM doing response. He seems to be scribbling a speech on front bench.Has any PM ever lost their FIRST vote before? Paging @AmIRightSir
Boris Johnson on the front bench with a folder, so presumably responding as soon as government defeat announced
From Labour’s Alex Sobel
The irony is that Boris Johnson hasn’t had a Parliamentary vote and he’s going to lose this and likely the next 2 Parliamentary Votes under his leadership
From the Telegraph’s Christopher Hope
One Conservative rebel tells me as many as 20 Tory MPs have rebelled. “Jacob Rees-Mogg was a great recruiting sergeant,” the MP told me.#Brexit
From my colleague Jessica Elgot
Ed Vaizey rebels, tells me that he feels liberated. “When you hear speeches like that’s from @Sandbach and from Ken Clarke, you just know you’re on the right side.”
From Nick Macpherson, a former permanent secretary at the Treasury
I worked for Tory governments for 18 years. But I still can't claim to understand the party. Why expel loyalists like Soames, Hammond and Gauke - and Ken Clarke who was a Tory minister for 23 years - while allowing all those who rebelled against Mrs May to get off scot-free?
From Labour’s Luke Pollard
Significant number of brave and courageous Tories in our lobby. I don’t agree with many of their views but they’re giving up careers in the Tory party to stand up for their constituents and that’s hard not to respect that.
These are from ITV’s Robert Peston.
I have belatedly worked out that @BorisJohnson can and probably will accept the legislation delaying Brexit as the price of going to the country in a general election. Because he would campaign on a manifesto of leaving the EU on 31 October. So if he wins the clear...
commons majority he seeks, he could repeal that legislation in a single day before 31 October and could insist Lords do not block repeal (because repeal would be in Tory manifesto). So we are heading for a general election as a proxy for a referendum, with Tories campaigning...
to Brexit - deal or no deal - on 31 October. I really can't see how Labour could refuse to sanction and fight an election on those terms.
Nick Brown, the Labour chief whip, moves a motion that the question be now put. MPs back the call by acclamation.
John Bercow, the Speaker, moves to the main vote. He has just called the division, and voting has started.
We should get the result in about 15 minutes.
From Sky’s Sam Coates
Tory MPs being told it’s one vote at 9.51 and it is a matter of confidenceBut closing speeches not started
Back in the debate Bob Neill, a Tory who voted remain in 2016, says he has rebelled over Brexit. He wants the UK to leave the EU with a deal. But he thinks this motion will make it harder for the PM to get a deal at the EU summit in October. He urges MPs to reject the motion.
Here are some pictures from the protests outside the Houses of Parliament.
A spokesman for the Irish government said it had been briefed on Tuesday evening on the latest Brexit negotiations between the European Union and the United Kingdom. As the Press Association reports, the spokesman said Ireland “noted the increasing risk of a no-deal Brexit on 31 October”. In a statement issued to the media, the Irish government said it had agreed that no-deal Brexit planning would continue to get “top priority” across all government department and agencies.
This is from the SNP MP Gavin Newlands on Jacob Rees-Mogg.
Jacob Rees Mogg is literally going for a (u)kip on the front bench. I just asked him if I should call his footman to get him a pillow.He politely declined.#Brexit #StopBoris #Parliament pic.twitter.com/ivdWkjieXR
From the Sunday Times’ Tim Shipman
Tory chiefs say there are 16 Conservative rebels tonight. They will all be stripped of the whip this evening
If the rebellion is that size, it is hard to see how the government could win.
The Lib Dem Brexit spokesman Tom Brake says he has asked colleagues in the European parliament if there is any evidence that the UK is putting forward alternative plans for the backstop. He says he has been told that there has been “total radio silence” from the UK with regard to the Brexit negotiation. He urges MPs to support the motion.The Lib Dem Brexit spokesman Tom Brake says he has asked colleagues in the European parliament if there is any evidence that the UK is putting forward alternative plans for the backstop. He says he has been told that there has been “total radio silence” from the UK with regard to the Brexit negotiation. He urges MPs to support the motion.
The Tory MP Bob Seely says he is against this motion because it provides an opportunity for another extension. He says he wants a deal. But he also thinks the country needs to bring this matter to a conclusion.The Tory MP Bob Seely says he is against this motion because it provides an opportunity for another extension. He says he wants a deal. But he also thinks the country needs to bring this matter to a conclusion.
Back in the debate the Green MP Caroline Lucas criticises the “feral, out of control executive”.Back in the debate the Green MP Caroline Lucas criticises the “feral, out of control executive”.
And she also criticises Jacob Rees-Mogg’s body language. (See 9.23pm.) She says his stance shows his contempt for parliament. “Sit up,” some MPs shout.And she also criticises Jacob Rees-Mogg’s body language. (See 9.23pm.) She says his stance shows his contempt for parliament. “Sit up,” some MPs shout.
These are from the BBC’s Iain Watson.
BREAKING: 17 Labour MPs including @GloriaDePiero @SKinnock and @CarolineFlintMP plan to amend tomorrow's anti-No Deal bill (if the opposition win tonight) to call for the latest version of the @theresa_may deal to be put to parliament. Their full statement coming up
Breaking -This is the full statement from the group calling themselves '⁦@UKLabour⁩ for a deal' They say parliament is being forced to choose between extremes. they want the(post-labour talks) Withdrawal Agreement legislation tabled again so MPs can avoid no deal but leave pic.twitter.com/KPt4cHWO4F
MPs are not supposed to take photographs of each other in the chamber, but you can see why Labour’s Anna Turley could not resist this shot.
The physical embodiment of arrogance, entitlement, disrespect and contempt for our parliament. pic.twitter.com/XdnFQmkfCS
MPs sometimes lean back like that in the chamber because there are speakers embedded in those benches at the top, and if they are having difficulty hearing the debate, having your ear to the cushion can help. Obviously, Turley has an alternative explanation for Rees-Mogg’s posture ...
Antoinette Sandbach, one of the Tory rebels, is speaking now. She says if Boris Johnson is allowed to shut down parliament to reduce the chances of MPs stopping a no-deal Brexit, there will be nothing to stop another prime minister doing this again.
Labour’s Gordon Marsden says there is no evidence, “not a sniff”, that the government has presented Brexit plans to the EU.
He says Boris Johnson is a “petulant man-child unable to get his way with this house” and that is why he wants to shut down parliament. That is why MPs must vote for this motion, he says.
In the debate Sir Bernard Jenkin, the Tory Brexiter, is speaking now.
He says this situation partly reflects various constitutional changes.
One is the Fixed-term Parliaments Act. This has strengthened the position of the PM, as was intended when it was passed by the coalition. But this means the Commons can now wound a PM, without bringing them down.
And the other factor is the increased use of referendums. That has created a problem of competing legitimacies, he says. It is not clear what is most legimate, he says - the representative or the direct mandate?
This is from Antonello Guerrera, a corespondent for the Italian paper, La Repubblica.
BREAKING. "The UK hasn't put forward yet ANY REALISTIC ALTERNATIVE PROPOSAL in order to replace the backstop, not even a draft. The 'level of ambition' looks lower if compared with the past administrations" - EU sources to Italian main news agency @Agenzia_Ansa
This sounds like a reference to a briefing similar to the one reported by RTE’s Tony Connelly earlier. (See 5.51pm.)
Dominic Grieve, a Tory rebel and the former attorney general, says he does not know what the “will of the people” means now. He says it is not clear what the public want. That is why he thinks there must be a referendum, he says.
He says he is alarmed by the way people who make this argument are now accused of being traitors.
And he says he was surprised when Jacob Rees-Mogg argued that passing the Benn bill could interrupt the great set pieces that follow the Queen’s speech. (See 7.40pm.) Grieve says, as a Conservative, he likes the set pieces that follow the Queen’s speech. But he constituents know that averting the damage a no-deal Brexit would cause is more important.
He also criticises Rees-Mogg for the way he criticised Oliver Letwin. (See 7.38pm.) He says Letwin spent more months in high office than the number of days Rees-Mogg has spent in his.
Anna Soubry, the former Tory MP who is now leader of the Independent Group for Change, urges MPs to back the motion. She says it is not just about the future of the country, it is about self-respect too. She says MPs need to be able to look themselves in the mirror, and tell their grandchildren they have done the right thing.
Liam Fox, the former international trade secretary, is speaking now.
He says MPs must honour the result of the referendum.
He says this motion would turn the UK into supplicants in relation to the EU.
He says MPs would create a “coalition of chaos” if they back this plan.
And he says a senior French minister told him that it was important for the UK to honour the referendum result. He told Fox that France’s current political problems, which saw the collapse of the traditional parties, started when the French government failed to honour the spirit of the French vote against the European constitution.
In the Commons Nick Boles, the former Tory who now sits as an independent, is speaking. He recalls the day he woke up in hospital in 2017, where he was being treated for cancer, and got ready to go to the Commons to vote for article 50 to be triggered. His blood cell count was low, and there was a high chance of infection, he says. But he was driven to the Commons to vote because he believed the referendum vote should be respected.
He says he has voted for a Brexit deal. But what he will not do is accept a no-deal Brexit.
He says taking this stand lost him the support of his local Tory association, and led to him leaving the party. But he has no regrets. He has put what is right for the country ahead of his self-interest. How many members of the cabinet can say the same?
He says he is the only MP in parliament sitting as an independent progressive conservative. But he urges other MPs to join him so that they can provide a new force in parliament.
At the moment, I am the only independent progressive Conservative in parliament.
To those brave souls on the Conservative benches who face expulsion from the party for voting for the motion today, I say this: your country needs you.
Do what you know to be right.
Join me on these benches and, together, let us build a new force in British politics and a true home in parliament for those who believe in one nation.