Will Valentine’s Day get British parliament to fall in love with May’s Brexit proposal
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British Prime Minister Theresa May is hoping parliament will show her some love on Valentine’s Day by backing a motion reiterating its support for her Brexit strategy and rejecting amendments that would force her hand.
The new motion put before parliament effectively asks parliament to allow her to continue negotiating to seek changes to the backstop. MPs are permitted to amend the motion, which will be voted on on Thursday.
This is the second time May has submitted an amendable parliamentary motion after the defeat of her Brexit deal. In January, MPs successfully amended the motion twice
The first amendment, supported by the government, was spearheaded by the Tory MP Sir Graham Brady, and called for the government to seek “alternative arrangements” to replace the Northern Ireland backstop. The second came from Dame Caroline Spelman, and was a defeat for the government backed by rebel Tory MPs, which said the House of Commons rejected the possibility of no deal.
What’s being proposed? – Although bland at first glance, the motion could set the prime minister on a collision course with the hard Eurosceptics in her party. It says negotiations to come to a compromise on the backstop are continuing and “reiterates its support for the approach to leaving the EU expressed by this house on 29 January 2019”. The Labour frontbench, including Jeremy Corbyn and Keir Starmer, have tabled an amendment that would force the prime minister to bring her deal back to the House of Commons or table another amendable motion by 27 February, just over a month before the UK is due to leave the EU.
Ken Clarke’s amendment for indicative votes suggests that MPs would get a chance to vote on a ballot paper, in order of preference, for what the best Brexit approach would be. Any number of options could be submitted as long as at least 50 MPs had backed it in advance. An amendment by the Scottish nationalists calls on the government simply to stop Brexit by withdrawing notification of departure. Unusually, the amendment has also been signed by a Labour backbencher Janet Daby, from the very pro-remain Lewisham East seat.
The official People’s Vote campaign is not tabling its own amendment – the second time that campaigners have decided it does not yet have enough support to pass.
