What Will Happen When Parliament Votes on Brexit Amendments

(Bloomberg) --

“The ayes to the right...” That’s how Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow will begin announcing the result of the votes that could determine Britain’s future.

But amid the flummery of the British Parliament, where members cannot address each other by name, and the security is provided by men in tights, how can you tell who’s actually won and lost? Even veterans of the system can be caught out by procedure. Here’s our guide to Tuesday’s votes.

The Motion

After Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal was overwhelmingly rejected this month, her government put forward a motion designed to allow members of Parliament to debate the next steps in Brexit. Those plans are in the form of amendments, which will be voted on tonight.

Kick-off: 7 p.m. in London

Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay will make the closing speech, finishing in time for voting to begin at 7 p.m.

It was up to Bercow to decide which amendments are put to a vote. On Tuesday, he selected seven: they include the so-called Brady amendment (which is backed by May) seeking to renegotiate the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement to remove the contentious backstop, and the plan put forward by Labour lawmaker Yvette Cooper to extend Article 50 to avoid a no-deal Brexit.

Read more: How Parliament Is Trying to Control Brexit and What It Means

‘The Question Is...’

Bercow will announce what they’re voting on. Amendments for this vote are being identified by letter.

• A - Labour’s official amendment demanding votes on various options including a customs union with the EU
• O - Plan backed by Scottish and Welsh nationalists to delay Brexit and rule out leaving the EU without a deal
• G - Former Attorney General Dominic Grieve’s proposal to give Parliament control of the Brexit process
• B - Cooper’s plan to force May to delay Brexit; it calls for Parliament to change its rules to debate a bill requiring extension of Article 50
• J - Proposal from Labour’s Rachel Reeves calling for Article 50 to be extended by two years -- if there’s no deal by Feb. 26
• I - Tory Caroline Spelman’s amendment calls on the government to avoid no-deal
• N - Tory Graham Brady’s plan to ditch the backstop for “alternative arrangements.” Backed by the government

‘As Many As Are Of That Opinion...’

Bercow will then invite supporters of the amendment to shout “Aye!” and opponents to shout “No!” If either side doesn’t shout, the other side wins by default.

‘...Say Aye!’

Which side wants what? Though none are government amendments, May has called for Tory lawmakers to back Brady’s proposal, so they will shout ‘Aye’ when that is called. The Labour Party has said it will back A, B, J and G.

‘Division! Clear the Lobby!’

Assuming there’s a shout of “No,” Bercow announces a vote. In the House of Commons, members vote by walking through one of the two lobbies on either side of the chamber. The entrances are at opposite ends. On television, voting is always shown as a wide shot of the whole chamber, looking toward the Speaker’s chair. The “Ayes” will walk away from the camera, out of the door behind the chair. The “Noes” will walk toward the camera.

Members of Parliament have eight minutes from the moment that the Speaker announces the vote to get into the right lobby. A bell sounds across the Parliamentary estate, and elevators are reserved for members during votes. Party whips stand at the entrance to each lobby, attempting to direct their flock through the correct door and intercept and dissuade members going the wrong way.

Meanwhile at the exit to each voting lobby, tall wooden desks are slid into place at which clerks sit, ticking off the names of members as they file past. This is now done on iPads, but that data isn’t used to tally the results of the vote. That job is done by the tellers. Remember them, they’re important.

‘Tellers for The Ayes?’

A minute or so after Bercow has announced the vote, he’ll stand up and announce it again. This time, he’ll also announce two lawmakers from each side of the vote to act as tellers. One from each side now heads to the exit of each lobby. Their job is to count members leaving. They do this out loud, without the aid of technology. Sometimes it goes wrong. One Labour member once voted three times without being spotted. Occasionally members walking past the tellers will amuse themselves by shouting out other numbers, in an effort to confuse them.

‘Lock the Doors!’

While some whips are manning the lobbies, others are conducting a sweep of parliament’s bars and toilets, looking for stragglers. This isn’t a job without risk. In one recent vote, the Conservative whip charged with minding the party’s heavier drinkers in the bar misjudged his own capacity for alcohol, and ended up being carried through the voting lobby by the man he was supposed to be minding.

When eight minutes have passed, Bercow shouts “Lock the doors.” The whips duck into the lobbies and officials lock the doors behind them. If a member isn’t in the lobby now, it’s too late for them to vote. And if they’re in the wrong lobby, having ducked in to use the toilet, for instance, they’re stuck.

At the far end of the voting lobby, members split into queues, depending on the first letter of their name. Because people higher up the alphabet are more likely to be elected -- they appear higher on British ballot papers -- the queue for “N to Z” is generally shorter.

Having been checked off, members file past the tellers -- the government whip will be on the right, counting, while the opposition whip on the left is there to confirm -- and then back into the chamber.

It generally takes about seven more minutes to get a result. The last person through the lobby is the whip who was standing on the door. They check the toilets in the lobby and make sure that everyone has voted, and then vote themselves. “All out,” they tell the tellers as they walk past.

‘Order’

The tellers now meet in the middle of the chamber, compare their tallies, and prepare to announce the result. They’ll stand four across. If you’ve remembered who the tellers for the ayes and noes are, then you can tell the result at this point -- the winning side stand on the Speaker’s left. The camera will cut to show them face on. Members in the chamber -- who know whose tellers are whose -- may well cheer at this point. But beware: Government tellers are used to standing on the winning side, and sometimes forget. So tellers have occasionally swapped sides at the last minute.

‘The Ayes to the Right’

The tellers now take a step forward, and a teller for the winning side will read out the result. They always read the “Ayes” number first. If this number is more than 318, the Ayes have almost certainly won -- but not definitely, because some lawmakers mark their abstention in a vote by voting in both lobbies. You can only be sure when the “Noes” number has been read out.

‘The Noes Have It!’

The teller hands the result to a clerk, who hands it to Bercow, who reads it out again, and then adds which side -- the Ayes or the Noes -- “have it”.

‘Unlock!’

Bercow orders the voting lobbies to be unlocked. The vote is over.

So... Who won?

In theory, if any amendments pass other than Brady’s, it’s not good news for May -- though it’s important to note that Tuesday’s votes are not of the binding type May lost earlier this month when her deal was rejected. The Cooper plan to delay Brexit is the one that has the most potential to derail May’s strategy. Meanwhile if the Brady amendment on the backstop secures a majority, May will consider that a mandate to try to negotiate again with the EU.

--With assistance from Alex Morales.

To contact the reporters on this story: Robert Hutton in London at rhutton1@bloomberg.net;Kitty Donaldson in London at kdonaldson1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Stuart Biggs, Emma Ross-Thomas

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