Committee Stage

My previous report European Union (Withdrawal) Bill Committee Stage 1-3 covered the first three debates in the House of Commons during the Committee Stage of the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill. The next 5 debates were largely overshadowed with the “media excitement” generated by the possibility of the UK being allowed by the EU to discuss a future possible trading relationship between the UK and countries in the EU.

The debates were held

4th sitting – 4th Dec 2017
5th sitting – 6th Dec 2017
6th sitting – 12th Dec 2017
7th sitting – 13th Dec 2017
8th sitting – 20th Dec 2017 (final)

The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill was considered and amended in a Committee of the whole House which was completed on Wednesday 20 December 2017.

Details for all the debates can be found on Parliament’s web-site at:

https://services.parliament.uk/bills/2017-19/europeanunionwithdrawal/stages.html

More than 500 amendments were considered for debate and a number of votes were taken during the proceedings.

New Clauses and Amendments considered in Committee of the whole House (excel spreadsheet).

An amendment by the Government to add the actual date and time of withdrawal from the EU to the Bill was accepted after a vote. This is defined as 29 March 2019 at 11.00 p.m.

The Government were only defeated following a vote to accept a proposed amendment by Dominic Grieve. Clause 9 allows the Government to use statutory instruments to implement the withdrawal agreement. This amendment requires Parliament to approve the final terms of the withdrawal agreement before the Government can implement the withdrawal agreement.

A Minister of the Crown may by regulations make such provision as the Minister considers appropriate for the purposes of implementing the withdrawal agreement if the Minister considers that such provision should be in force on or before exit day, subject to the prior enactment of a statute by Parliament approving the final terms of withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union.

Details of all the Committee Stages is summarised in an interesting article at the Institute for Government

EU Withdrawal Bill: amendments and debates

All the changes made to the original Bill are shown in the following document:

Version of the bill showing changes made in committee (pdf)

What happens next?

MP’s will next consider the Bill at Third Reading and Report Stage, known collectively as remaining stages. This will take place on Tuesday 16 and Wednesday 17 January 2018.

As a result of the decision of the Supreme Court requiring Parliamentary approval to invoke Article 50, the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill 2016-17 was introduced to Parliament by David Davis on 26 January 2017.

https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/2016-2017/0132/17132.pdf

House of Commons

1st Reading

The Bill was presented to the House of Commons and given its 1st Reading on Thursday 26 January 2017. This stage is formal and takes place without debate.

2nd Reading

The 2nd Reading of the Bill took place over two days on 31 January and 01 February 2017 when MPs could debate the bill. Usually the second reading of a bill is conducted over a single day, but in this case, the time was extended over 2 days due to the importance of the bill. Parliamentary time was also extended to Midnight on the first day.

Jeremy Corbyn imposed a three-line whip on Labour MPs, directing them to vote for the Bill, because the Shadow Cabinet had agreed not to block Article 50. It is called a three-line whip because the instruction from the Labour Chief Whip is underlined three times, meaning MPs must vote as directed or risk being disciplined.

The Bill passed the 2nd Reading by 498 votes to 114 and proceeded to a Committee of the Whole House for consideration of possible amendments to the Bill.

The Committee stage took place over 3 days 6th, 7th and 8th of February 2017

There were 175 Amendments to the Bill for consideration by MP’s. Details of these amendments are contained in the following documents:

Amendments – Monday 6th February

Amendments – Tuesday 7th February

Amendments – Wednesday 8th February

None of the amendments were accepted, following a number of votes, and the Bill was passed in its original form.

Report Stage and 3rd Reading

MPs approved the 3rd Reading of the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill on Wednesday (evening) 8 February 2016 by 494 votes to 122, giving a majority of 372.

The Bill was passed to the House of Lords for further scrutiny, possible amendments, and vote.

House of Lords

1st Reading

The Bill passed the 1st reading in the House of Lords on 8 February 2017.

The House of Lords is in recess from 10 February to 20 February

2nd Reading

The 2nd reading of the Bill took place over 2 days, 20th and 21st February 2017.

The 2nd reading of the Bill was completed on 21 February.

Committee Stage

The committee stage of the Bill took place over 2 days 27 February 2017 and 01 March 2017. It was completed on 01 March 2017.

By a vote of 358 to 256, the following amendment was agreed:

Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town moved amendment 9B, in clause 1, page 1, line 3, at end to insert:

“( ) Within three months of exercising the power under section 1(1), Ministers of the Crown must bring forward proposals to ensure that citizens of another European Union or European Economic Area country and their family members, who are legally resident in the United Kingdom on the day on which this Act is passed, continue to be treated in the same way with regards to their EU derived-rights and, in the case of residency, their potential to acquire such rights in the future.”

Report Stage and 3rd Reading

Following the Committee Stage, the Report Stage was held on 7 March 2017, the Bill was discussed in a number of sittings and Amendments were agreed.

This was followed by the 3rd reading of the Bill and after further debate, the Bill was returned to the House of Commons with amendments on 7 March 2017.

The suggested amendments are:

Ping Pong

In order for a Bill to become Law, both the House of Commons and the House of Lords must agree on the final wording in the Bill. If the House of Lords suggests amendments should be made, the Bill is passed back to the House of Commons for further debate, to consider those changes.

This process is known as “ping pong“. If the House of Commons agrees to the amendments the Bill passes on to the next stage, otherwise, the House of Commons can reject the amendments or make further changes/additions and pass the Bill back to the House of Lords for further debate. At this stage the House of Lords can accept what the Commons has decided, or offer further amendments and return it to the House of Commons. This process could continue indefinitely but can be limited by the time available for debate.

It is unlikely that the House of Lords will reject a Bill more than once, and the House of Commons has an option to use the Parliament Act to override (and ignore) amendments made by the House of Lords.

http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/laws/parliamentacts/

The Bill was received back in the House of Commons and debated on 13 March 2017. Both amendments were rejected, Amendment 1 by 335 votes to 287 and Amendment 2 by 331 votes to 286, for the following reasons

The Commons disagree to Lords Amendment 1 for the following reason—

Because it is not a matter that needs to be dealt with in the Bill.

The Commons disagree to Lords Amendment 2 for the following reason—

Because it is not a matter that needs to be dealt with in the Bill.

The Bill was returned to the House of Lords.

After further debate, the House of Lords did not insist on their amendments and the Bill completed its journey through the Houses of Parliament on 13 March 2017.

Royal Assent

This stage is when the Queen formally agrees to make the Bill into an Act of Parliament and becomes Law.

The Bill was granted Royal Assent and announced by the Speaker in the House of Commons on 16 March 2017 who stated:

I have to notify the House, in accordance with the Royal Assent 1967, that her Majesty has signified her royal assent to the following acts: Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Act 2017, European Union (Notification of withdrawal) Act 2017.

The Prime Minister can now legally begin the formal process of leaving the EU by invoking Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union (Lisbon Treaty).