UK Lawmakers Accept ‘Spelman Brexit Amendment A’ In 312-308 Vote • Amendment Calls For Govt To Rule Out ‘No-Deal Brexit’
UK Lawmakers Reject ‘Brexit Amendment F’ In 374-164 Vote • Amendment Calls For Govt To Pursue ‘Managed No-Deal Exit’ On May 22
In a night of high drama in the Commons, MPs surprised the government and voted by 312 to 308 to reject a no-deal Brexit under any circumstances.
The vote is not binding – under current law the UK could still leave without a deal on 29 March.
On Thursday, MPs will vote on whether to ask the EU for permission to delay the date for departure.
There could be a short extension – or a much longer one – depending on whether MPs backed the prime minister’s existing withdrawal deal that has been agreed with the EU by 20 March, the government says.
That means Theresa May could make a third attempt to get her deal through Parliament in the next few days.
‘I don’t want a long extension’
The EU has said that in the event of a delay, the UK must provide a good reason for postponing the divorce date.
“I don’t want a long extension,” said the European Parliament’s lead Brexit spokesman, Guy Verhofstadt, addressing MEPs in Brussels on Wednesday.
“An extension, where we go beyond the European elections, and the European elections will be hijacked by the Brexiters.
“We will talk only about [Brexit], and not about the real problems, and the real reforms we need in the European Union,” the spokesman added.
Verhofstadt hit out at Nigel Farage, the far-right former UKIP leader and MEP, by saying that a long extension would only give him a new mandate to “continue to have a salary that he can transfer to his offshore company” while trying “to destroy the European Union from within”.
In response, Farage urged EU leaders to veto the Article 50 extension “so that both you and we can get on with the rest of our lives”.
Farage led the UK’s unofficial “leave” campaign, convincing Britons in their millions to vote for quitting the EU in a June 23, 2016 referendum.
Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, said after parliament rejected May’s deal on Tuesday that the risk of a no-deal Brexit, whether by plan or by accident, “has never been higher”.
Environment Secretary Michael Gove, meanwhile, has hinted that the government may also – on Thursday – move to hold a series of indicative votes on Brexit options.
