Parliament Fails to Back Any Plan B Options: Brexit Update
U.K. parliament will take control of the timetable from the government on Monday to debate alternative Brexit options.
(Bloomberg) -- The U.K. Parliament rejected all options in a set of votes on potential alternative blueprints for Brexit on Monday. The government says the legal default will be for the U.K. to leave the European Union in 11 days. Theresa May is still aiming to get her unpopular deal through Parliament and will call a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday to discuss the next steps.
Key Developments:
- Parliament rejects all alternative Brexit option
- Click here for the options that were voted on
- Nick Boles resigns from Conservative party because his colleagues won’t compromise
- Cabinet to hold five-hour meeting Tuesday
Boles Quits Tories Over Lack of Compromise (10:20 p.m.)
Conservative Nick Boles, who led the move for a Norway Plus plan, made an emotional announcement in the Commons saying he’s resigning from May’s party.
“I have given everything to an attempt to find a compromise that can take this country out of the European Union while maintaining our economic strength and our political cohesion,” Boles told the Commons after the results were read out. “I accept I have failed. I have failed chiefly because my party refuses to compromise. I regret therefore to announce that I can no longer sit for this party.”
After finishing his statement, Boles walked out of the Commons chamber, to applause.
Parliament Fails to Back Any Plan B Options (10:08 p.m.)
Parliament failed to agree on a new blueprint for Brexit, rejecting all the options that were put forward to replace Theresa May’s unpopular deal.
The Commons voted on four different policies but none of them won a majority. The closest any of them came was Ken Clarke’s plan for a customs union, which lost by just three votes.
MPs start Voting on Brexit Options (8 p.m.)
Members of Parliament have started voting on the four Brexit options and will have half an hour to fill in their ballot papers. Results are expected at about 10 p.m.
DUP Will Not Vote for Any Options (7:50 p.m.)
Sammy Wilson, Brexit spokesman for the Democratic Unionist Party, said the party’s 10 MPs will not support any of the options tonight.
"We will not be supporting any of these amendments," Wilson said. "They do not safeguard the issue of the union and because they do not deliver Brexit.”
Protesters Try to Disrupt Debate in Commons (5:48 p.m.)
Proceedings have be enlivened by a topless protest in the public gallery of the House of Commons. Eleven men and women leaned against the glass screen between the chamber and the gallery. Police began dragging them away, although some seemed to be gluing themselves to the glass.
MPs are soldiering on as best they can, though a few politicians seasoned their speeches with references to “stark warnings,” “the bottom line” and “fleshing out” arguments. Slogans on the protesters’ bodies suggest they are making a point about climate change rather than Brexit.
Votes on Single Market, Customs Union, Referendum (5 p.m.)
Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow has selected four options for debate and vote on Monday:
- Motion C, which seeks to ensure Britain negotiates a permanent customs union with the EU after Brexit
- Motion D, dubbed the Common Market 2.0 or Norway Plus option, which would keep the U.K. in the single market and enter into “comprehensive customs arrangements” with the EU after Brexit
- Motion E, which would require a confirmatory referendum on whichever Brexit deal Parliament approves
- Motion G, a complicated motion that ultimately seeks to avert a no-deal Brexit
Cabinet to Meet for Five Hours Tuesday (4 p.m.)
In another sign of the growing political crisis, May will hold a five-hour Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, including a three-hour political session, her spokesman told reporters.
If Parliament votes for a soft Brexit later on Monday, May’s Cabinet will have to decide how to proceed. May doesn’t think staying in the single market respects the referendum result of 2016, the spokesman said. The Cabinet will first hold a three-hour political meeting from 9 a.m. until 12 p.m., without civil servants, and then a full Cabinet meeting, with officials, from 1 p.m. until about 3 p.m., the spokesman said.
The long political discussion is likely to fuel speculation that a general election could be on the agenda. A senior Conservative official said on Sunday that the party was making “pragmatic” plans in case a national poll becomes necessary.
Separately, an official said May is unlikely to put her deal to another vote in the House of Commons on Tuesday.
SNP, Labour Could Swing Single-Market Vote (3 p.m.)
The change in stance by Labour and the Scottish National Party could just swing the vote on the so-called Common Market 2.O option that would keep the U.K. in the EU’s Single Market and in a customs union with the bloc.
Last week, the proposal lost by 283 votes to 189. But the SNP abstained and Labour, though supportive of it, didn’t whip MPs to vote for it. If the SNP’s 35 members of Parliament now back it, that reduces the deficit to 59 from 94.
A total of 42 Labour MPs opposed the plan last week, and 60 abstained. If enough of those weighed in behind it, it could therefore carry a majority.
Labour Also Throws Weight Behind Single Market (2:25 p.m.)
The main opposition Labour Party said it will instruct lawmakers to vote for the Common Market 2.O option keeping the U.K. in the EU’s single market (see 2 p.m.), making it more likely to pass if it’s selected by the speaker to go to a vote tonight.
The motion was defeated last week in the first round of so-called indicative votes. But while Labour was supportive of the proposal then, it didn’t compel its MPs to vote for it, so whipping for it tonight will give it momentum.
SNP to Back Single-Market Option (2 p.m.)
The Scottish National Party, which wants the U.K. to remain part of the EU, will throw its weight tonight behind a proposal to stay in the single market, known as Common Market 2.O. The road-map for post-Brexit ties is similar to Norway’s relationship with the EU and includes an additional “comprehensive customs arrangement”.
“We will be prepared to compromise on the basis of protecting jobs, staying in the single market and customs union , so we will vote for the Boles amendment,” Ian Blackford, Westminster SNP leader told the BBC.
Support Growing for Confirmatory Referendum? (1 p.m.)
A proposal to hold a confirmatory referendum pitting whatever Brexit deal emerges from the parliamentary process against the option of staying in the European Union is gaining traction. One of its proponents, Phil Wilson, told the BBC on Monday the idea has “got a lot of support out there,” pointing to the more than 120 MPs who have put their name to it.
Last week, the proposal garnered more support than any other -- 268 MPs voted for it -- but lost by 27, a wider margin than the customs union plan. Richard Harrington, who quit as a business minister a week ago, told the BBC on Monday he’d now back it after abstaining last week.
“The country is split, Parliament is split, and whatever happens, a large amount of people are going to say they have been betrayed by another large amount of people,’’ Harrington said. Parliament should decide, and then, “because of the turmoil and disruption and disagreements within the country, I think it’s the right thing for the public to confirm that.”
Culture Minister Margot James, who also abstained last week, suggested she could also support the plan, telling the BBC she hasn’t yet made up her mind.
Brexiteer Warns May Over Confidence Vote (12:45 p.m.)
Steve Baker, a key member of the European Research Group pro-Brexit Tory caucus, hinted he could vote against his own Conservative Party if Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn proposes a no-confidence motion in the government.
“These things are on the table,” Baker told BBC’s Politics Live program, adding he cannot support a customs union and prefer a longer Brexit extension over May’s deal. Baker’s stance adds more pressure on the premier not to adopt a customs union even if parliamentary support coalesces around the idea.
May Still Working to Get Her Deal Through (12 p.m.)
Theresa May is still working to get her deal approved, her office indicated, with her spokesman, James Slack, telling reporters she’s still holding talks with lawmakers from across the House of Commons. He declined to say whether she’d accept the outcome of today’s votes on Brexit options, or to reveal how Cabinet ministers will be told to vote. Last week, they were ordered to abstain.
Slack also said the premier doesn’t think either a general election or a second referendum on Brexit would be in the national interest.
MPs Propose 9 Alternatives to May’s Deal (Earlier)
Politicians have proposed nine options for debate later on Monday. It’s up to Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow to select which ones actually get discussed, and he’s scheduled to do that at 6 p.m., assuming members of Parliament earlier approve the format for the debate and voting.
The options include a customs union, a no-deal Brexit, a confirmatory referendum and the so-called Norway Plus option encompassing the single market and customs union.
Chief Whip Laments Cabinet Ill-Discipline (Earlier)
Chief Whip Julian Smith told the BBC that the current Cabinet is the worst-disciplined in history and that he’s witnessed ministers trying to destabilize Theresa May. He also said the inconclusive results of the 2017 general election meant a softer Brexit was inevitable.
Ministers’ behavior is the “worst example of ill-discipline in Cabinet in British political history,” Smith said in comments made in a documentary to be broadcast this evening. “The government as a whole just should have been clearer that the consequences of that, the parliamentary arithmetic would mean that this would be inevitably a kind of softer type of Brexit.”
May’s spokesman, James Slack, later told reporters that the premier has confidence in Smith.
Truss Warns Against Customs Union Option (Earlier)
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss told BBC Radio the prime minister’s Brexit deal is already “fundamentally a compromise,” and warned the government against pushing for a customs union -- the Brexit option that came closest to a House of Commons majority in last week’s so-called indicative votes.
Truss said it isn’t clear that there’s a majority in Parliament for a softer Brexit than the deal already on the table, and the solution is a modified version of May’s agreement. She said a no-deal exit remains an option if Parliament can’t support an agreement.
The Times earlier reported that International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt and Transport Secretary Chris Grayling have threatened to quit the Cabinet if May pivots toward a customs union.
Earlier:
--With assistance from Thomas Penny, Jessica Shankleman, Kitty Donaldson and Alex Morales.
To contact the reporters on this story: Tim Ross in London at tross54@bloomberg.net;Robert Hutton in London at rhutton1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Emma Ross-Thomas at erossthomas@bloomberg.net, ;Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Stuart Biggs
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