Johnson Won’t Contest Brexit Vote If Rebel Amendment Passes
Johnson Won’t Contest Brexit Vote If Rebel Amendment Passes
Boris Johnson won’t push his Brexit deal to a vote on Saturday if a rebel amendment that’s designed to postpone its legal sign-off is passed by lawmakers, a U.K. official said.
Johnson needs formal parliamentary approval for his deal by the end of the day to get out of a law that requires him to seek to delay Britain’s departure from the European Union.
But former conservative minister Oliver Letwin has proposed an amendment -- which Speaker John Bercow selected for debate -- that would postpone legal approval until all the necessary laws have passed Parliament.
Letwin argued that this would still allow the government to test support for its deal. But the official said the effect of the amendment would be to render the motion meaningless. The government will still push ahead with putting its Brexit legislation before parliament on Monday, the official added.
To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Hutton in London at rhutton1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Edward Evans, James Amott
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