Tag: Meaningless Vote

Categories
Withdrawal Agreement

Another day, another vote and 15 days left to Brexit

Blah, blah, blah … Today’s motion to be debated and voted on is:

UK’S WITHDRAWAL FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION

Until 5.00pm (Business of the House (Today) motion, if agreed to)

The Prime Minister

That this House:

(1) notes the resolutions of the House of 12 and 13 March, and accordingly agrees that the Government will seek to agree with the European Union an extension of the period specified in Article 50(3);

(2) agrees that, if the House has passed a resolution approving the negotiated withdrawal agreement and the framework for the future relationship for the purposes of section 13(1)(b) of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 by 20 March 2019, then the Government will seek to agree with the European Union a one-off extension of the period specified in Article 50(3) for a period ending on 30 June 2019 for the purpose of passing the necessary EU exit legislation; and

(3) notes that, if the House has not passed a resolution approving the negotiated withdrawal agreement and the framework for the future relationship for the purposes of section 13(1)(b) of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 by 20 March 2019, then it is highly likely that the European Council at its meeting the following day would require a clear purpose for any extension, not least to determine its length, and that any extension beyond 30 June 2019 would require the United Kingdom to hold European Parliament elections in May 2019.

and yet another slew of amendments …

In summary:

Amendment (a)

Line 1, leave out from “House” to end and add “notes that the National Assembly for Wales, the Scottish Parliament and the House of Commons all voted overwhelmingly to reject the Prime Minister’s deal; recognises that the National Assembly for Wales and the Scottish Parliament voted convincingly in favour of a People’s Vote; further notes that this House rejected the UK’s leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement and a future relationship framework; and therefore calls on the Government to honour the respective will of each Parliament by seeking to extend the time under Article 50(3) of the Treaty on European Union until 2021, or until the future relationship has been negotiated, and by holding a binding referendum at the end of that period on either accepting the Withdrawal Agreement or retaining membership of the European Union.”.

Amendment (c)

Line 1, leave out from “House” to end and add “calls on the Government to bring forward urgently the legislation necessary to require the Prime Minister to revoke before 29 March 2019 the UK’s notice of intention to withdraw from the EU under Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union.”.

Amendment (d)

Line 1, leave out from “House” to end and add “calls on the Government to negotiate an extension to Article 50(3) of the Treaty on European Union of sufficient length so as to facilitate a referendum on whether to exit the European Union under the terms of the negotiated Withdrawal Agreement or to stay in membership of the European Union and all necessary associated measures.”.

Amendment (f)

Line 1, leave out from “House” to end and add, “calls on the Government to agree with the European Council an extension to the negotiating period under Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union to provide time for a public vote on the UK’s relationship with the EU including the option to remain; believes that throughout an extension period the option for this House to unilaterally revoke notice to withdraw under Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union must remain on the table; recognises the resolutions of the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly on 5 March 2019 to oppose the UK Government’s exit deal and agree that a no deal outcome to the current negotiations on EU withdrawal would be completely unacceptable on 29 March 2019, or at any time; believes Scotland must not be taken out of the European Union against its will, and that this can best be avoided by the people of Scotland exercising their sovereign right to choose their own constitutional future as a full, equal, sovereign, independent Member State of the European Union.”.

Amendment (h)

Line 1, leave out from “House” to end and add “instructs the Prime Minister to request an extension to the Article 50 period at the European Council in March 2019 sufficient for the purposes of legislating for and conducting a public vote in which the people of the United Kingdom may give their consent for either leaving the European Union on terms to be determined by Parliament or retaining the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union.”.

Amendment (g)

Line 2, leave out from “13 March” to end and add “and therefore instructs the Government to seek to agree with the European Union an extension of the period specified in Article 50(3) to 22 May 2019 for the specific purpose of replacing the UK negotiating team.”.

Amendment (e)

Leave out paragraphs (2) and (3) and add:

“(2) notes that this House has decisively rejected the Withdrawal Agreement and Framework for the Future Relationship laid before the House and the proposition that the UK should leave the European Union without a Withdrawal Agreement and a Framework for the Future Relationship; and

(3) therefore instructs the Prime Minister to seek an extension to Article 50 in order to avoid exiting the EU on 29 March without a ratified Withdrawal Agreement and a Framework for the Future Relationship; and to provide parliamentary time for this House to find a majority for a different approach.”.

Amendment (b)

At end, add “(4) believes that the result of the 2016 EU referendum should be respected and that a second EU referendum would be divisive and expensive, and therefore should not take place.”.

https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/business-papers/commons/agenda-and-order-of-business/#session=29&year=2019&month=2&day=14

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmagenda/Order Paper OP190314.pdf

How about another amendment – mine would be:

Amendment (z)

Line 1, leave out from “House” to end and add

“(i) voted to ask the people in a referendum whether the UK should remain in or leave the EU, with no attached pre-conditions;

(ii) respects the result of the people’s vote on 23 June 2016, to leave the EU and notes that 17,410,742 people voted to leave;

(iii) voted to invoke article 50 and begin the process to leave the EU at the latest by 29 March 2019 at 11:00 pm GMT;

(iv) voted to reject the Withdrawal Agreement and Future Political Declaration negotiated with the EU;

and rejects that any extension is necessary to the scheduled date for leaving the EU.”.

Back to the real world Parliament

Amendments tabled to the Motion on the UK’s Withdrawal from the European Union – final revised version

Additional Amendments

*Amendment (i) Hilary Benn

Line 4, leave out from “Article 50 (3)” to end and add:

“to enable the House of Commons to find a way forward that can command majority support;

2. orders accordingly that on Wednesday 20 March –

(a) Standing Order No. 14(1) (which provides that government business shall have precedence at every sitting save as provided in that order) shall not apply;

(b) precedence shall be given to the motion specified in paragraph 3;

(c) the Speaker shall interrupt proceedings on any business before the motion specified in paragraph 3 at 1.30 pm and call a Member to move that motion;

(d) debate on that motion may continue until 7.00 pm at which time the Speaker shall put the questions necessary to dispose of proceedings on that
motion including the questions on amendments selected by the Speaker which may then be moved;

(e) any proceedings interrupted or superseded by this order may be resumed or (as the case may be) entered upon and proceeded with after the moment of interruption; and

3. the motion specified in this paragraph is a motion in the name of at least 25 Members, including at least five Members elected to the House as members of at least five different parties, relating to the Business of the House on a future day or days in connection with matters relating to the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union.

**As an amendment to Hilary Benn’s amendment (i)

Line 2, at beginning insert “for a period ending on 30 June 2019”.

*Amendment (k)

Leave out paragraphs (2) and (3).

*Amendment (j) Chris Bryant

At end, add “notes that Erskine May states that a motion or an amendment which is the same, in substance, as a question which has been decided in the affirmative or negative during the current session may not be brought forward again during that session; and therefore orders the Government not to move a further motion asking the House to approve the Withdrawal agreement and framework for the future partnership that the house declined to approve on 15 January 2019 and 12 March 2019.”.

Selected amendments by the Speaker are as follows:

I inform the House that I have selected amendment (h), in the name of the hon. Member for Totnes (Dr Wollaston), and amendment (i), in the name of the right hon. Member for Leeds Central (Hilary Benn), to which a manuscript amendment—

“Line 2, at beginning insert ‘for a period ending on 30 June 2019′”—

has been submitted, in the name of the hon. Member for Manchester Central (Lucy Powell), which I have selected; it will be distributed shortly.

I have selected amendment (e), in the name of the Leader of the Opposition, and amendment (j)—J for Jemima—in the name of the hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant).

If amendment (h) were to be agreed to, amendments (i) and (e) would fall. If amendment (i) were to be agreed to, amendment (e) would fall.

Categories
Withdrawal Agreement

PM statement in the House of Commons: 13 March 2019

Following a vote on a motion to reject the UK leaving the EU without a Withdrawal Agreement and a Framework for the Future Relationship, the PM gave the following statement in the House of Commons.

On a point of order, Mr Speaker,

The House has today provided a clear majority against leaving without a deal. However, I will repeat what I have said before. This is about the choices that this House faces. The legal default in UK and EU law remains that the UK will leave the EU without a deal unless something else is agreed. The onus is now on every one of us in this House to find out what that is.

The options before us are the same as they have always been:

  • We could leave with the deal which this Government has negotiated over the past two years.
  • We could leave with the deal we have negotiated but subject to a second referendum. But that would risk no Brexit at all, damaging the fragile trust between the British public and the members of this House.
  • We could seek to negotiate a different deal. However, the EU have been clear that the deal on the table is indeed the only deal available.

Mr Speaker, I also confirmed last night that, if the House declined to approve leaving without a deal on 29 March 2019, the Government would bring forward a motion on whether the House supports seeking to agree an extension to Article 50 with the EU, which is the logical consequence of the votes over the past two days in this House.

The Leader of the House will shortly make an emergency business statement confirming the change to tomorrow’s business. The motion we will table will set out the fundamental choice facing this House.

If the House finds a way in the coming days to support a deal, it would allow the Government to seek a short limited technical extension to Article 50 to provide time to pass the necessary legislation and ratify the agreement we have reached with the EU. But let me be clear, such a short technical extension is only likely to be on offer if we have a deal in place.

Therefore, the House has to understand and accept that, if it is not willing to support a deal in the coming days, and as it is not willing to support leaving without a deal on 29 March, then it is suggesting that there will need to be a much longer extension to Article 50. Such an extension would undoubtedly require the United Kingdom to hold European Parliament elections in May 2019.

I do not think that would be the right outcome. But the House needs to face up to the consequences of the decisions it has taken.

Categories
Withdrawal Agreement

Another day, another vote and 16 days left to Brexit

Losing track. remind me – is this a meaningful vote or another of those meaningless votes where MPs cannot come to an actual decision on how to leave the EU? Here we go again, MPs will vote at 19.00 GMT on whether to leave the EU without a deal on 29 March

Today’s motion to be debated and voted on is:

3. UK’S WITHDRAWAL FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION

That this House declines to approve leaving the European Union without a Withdrawal Agreement and a Framework for the Future Relationship on 29 March 2019; and notes that leaving without a deal remains the default in UK and EU law unless this House and the EU ratify an agreement.

and yet another slew of amendments in summary:

Amendment (a)

Line 1, leave out from “House” to end and add “rejects the United Kingdom leaving the European Union without a Withdrawal Agreement and a Framework for the Future Relationship.”.

Amendment (b)

Line 1, leave out from “House” to end and add “calls on the Government to bring forward urgently the legislation necessary to require the Prime Minister to revoke before 29 March 2019 the UK’s notice of intention to withdraw from the EU under Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union.”.

Amendment (c)

Line 1, leave out from “House” to end and add “notes that the National Assembly for Wales, the Scottish Parliament and the House of Commons all voted overwhelmingly to reject the Prime Minister’s deal; recognises that the National Assembly for Wales and the Scottish Parliament voted convincingly in favour of a People’s Vote; further notes that this House rejected the UK’s leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement and a future relationship framework; and therefore calls on the Government to honour the respective will of each Parliament by seeking to extend the time under Article 50(3) of the Treaty on European Union until 2021, or until the future relationship has been negotiated, and by holding a binding referendum at the end of that period on either accepting the Withdrawal Agreement or retaining membership of the European Union.”.

Amendment (d)

Line 2, leave out from “2019;” to end and add “resolves that under no circumstances should the United Kingdom leave the European Union without a Withdrawal Agreement and a Framework for the Future Relationship; and notes that options available to this House now include instructing the Prime Minister to request an extension of the Article 50 period, instructing the Prime Minister to revoke the Article 50 notification, and making arrangements for a public vote on whether or not the United Kingdom should proceed with leaving the European Union.”.

Amendment (e)

Line 2, leave out from “Relationship” to end.

Amendment (f)

At end, add “; notes the steps taken by the Government, the EU and its Member States to minimise any disruption that may occur should the UK leave the EU without an agreed Withdrawal Agreement and proposes that the Government should build on this work as follows:

1. That the Government should publish the UK’s Day One Tariff Schedules immediately;
2. To allow businesses to prepare for the operation of those tariffs, that the Government should seek an extension of the Article 50 process to 10.59pm on 22 May 2019, at which point the UK would leave the EU;
3. Thereafter, in a spirit of co-operation and in order to begin discussions on the Future Relationship, the Government should offer a further set of mutual standstill agreements with the EU and Member States for an agreed period ending no later than 30 December 2021, during which period the UK would pay an agreed sum equivalent to its net EU contributions and satisfy its other public international law obligations; and
4. The Government should unilaterally guarantee the rights of EU citizens resident in the UK.”.

Summary Agenda and Order of Business

Order Paper – OP190313.pdf

Update:

The Speaker selected amendment (a) and amendment (f) and the debate was opened by Michael Gove on behalf of the Prime Minister who had lost her voice.

After debate on the Motion, Amendment (a) was put to a vote.

Amendment proposed: (a)

Line 1, leave out from “House” to end and add

“rejects the United Kingdom leaving the European Union without a Withdrawal Agreement and a Framework for the Future Relationship.”. (Yvette Cooper.)

The vote was 312 in favour of the amendment and 308 against, so the amendment was made to the motion.

9 Conservative MPs voted for the motion, They were

Bebb, Guto

Clarke, rh Mr Kenneth

Greening, rh Justine

Grieve, rh Mr Dominic

Gyimah, Mr Sam

Lee, Dr Phillip

Sandbach, Antoinette

Spelman, rh Dame Caroline

Vaizey, rh Mr Edward

Amendment (f) was then voted on with the result 164 votes in favour and 374 votes against. The amendment which was not made to the motion.

The main question was then voted on which now reads:

That this House rejects the United Kingdom leaving the European Union without a Withdrawal Agreement and a Framework for the Future Relationship.

The vote was 321 votes in favour and 278 votes against.

17 Conservative rebels this time

Bebb, Guto

Benyon, rh Richard

Boles, Nick

Clarke, rh Mr Kenneth

Djanogly, Mr Jonathan

Freeman, George

Greening, rh Justine

Grieve, rh Mr Dominic

Gyimah, Mr Sam

Lee, Dr Phillip

Letwin, rh Sir Oliver

Masterton, Paul

Newton, Sarah

Pawsey, Mark

Sandbach, Antoinette

Soames, rh Sir Nicholas

Vaizey, rh Mr Edward

Categories
Withdrawal Agreement

Results of the Meaningless Votes

Parliament voted on a motion related to Brexit following further debate on 27 February 2019.

This is how interested MPs are in listening to the debate. Here’s the attendance in Parliament around 5:30 on 27 February 2019 – will MPs know what they are voting for later ?

Do the results of the meaningless votes show:

MPs are ignoring the result of the referendum and trying to find a way to remain in the EU?

Although the Cooper amendment is targeted to delaying Brexit, it could also be viewed as a tactic to remain in the EU (for ever) which is the favoured option of most MPs.

What is the purpose for a delay ?

If MPs cannot find common ground now, what is going to change to allow them to find a solution in the future?

2 months or 2 years won’t make any difference unless MPs come to terms with the fact that they are not acting in “good faith” regarding the results of the referendum.

The majority of MPs have been overwhelmingly in support of remaining in the EU before, during and after the referendum and still today.

In winding up the debate I also noted the comment by Stephen Barclay,

However, in securing a deal, which is our priority, we will protect the rights of EU citizens, along with the wishes of my hon. Friend the Member for South Leicestershire (Alberto Costa), not only in the EU but in the UK, and we will do so in a way that delivers Brexit and delivers on the biggest vote in our country’s history.

Good to see he is interested in the rights of EU citizens, let’s not forget those UK citizens in the EU either …

Results of the votes

Amendment (a) : Jeremy Corbyn

Kind of ignoring the Withdrawal Agreement and concentrating on the Political Declaration – The political declaration is a set of non-binding suggestions for the future relationship which have yet to be negotiated. Does this mean the Labour Party supports the Withdrawal Agreement ?

For the amendment: 240

Against the amendment: 323

(with Ken Clarke voting for the amendment (against the Government)

Amendment is defeated.

Amendment (k) : Ian Blackford

Not to leave the EU without an agreed Withdrawal Agreement and Future Political Declaration (ie prevent leaving with “no-deal”)

For the amendment 288

Against the amendment 324

with Ken Clarke voting for the amendment (against the Government)

Amendment is defeated.

Amendment (b) (Alberto Costa) was agreed without a vote

Amendment (f) : Yvette Cooper

This amendment attempts to stop the PM backing down on her promise to allow MPs to vote on her deal, a no-deal and/or a delay to Brexit and this amendment is intended to secure confirmation of the PMs commitment to these votes..

For the amendment502

Against the amendment20

204 Conservatives and 1 DUP voted for the amendment

20 Conservatives voted against

90 Conservative MPs and 9 DUP MPs did not vote

Amendment is agreed.

The motion, as amended, was agreed to and reads:

That this House notes the Prime Minister’s statement on Leaving the European Union of 26 February 2019; and further notes that discussions between the UK and the EU are ongoing; and requires the Prime Minister to seek at the earliest opportunity a joint UK-EU commitment to adopt part two of the Withdrawal Agreement on Citizens’ Rights and ensure its implementation prior to the UK’s exiting the European Union, whatever the outcome of negotiations on other aspects of the Withdrawal Agreement; and further notes in particular the commitment of the Prime Minister made in this House to hold a second meaningful vote by 12 March and if the House, having rejected leaving with the deal negotiated with the EU, then rejects leaving on 29 March without a withdrawal agreement and future framework, the Government will, on 14 March, bring forward a motion on whether Parliament wants to seek a short limited extension to Article 50, and if the House votes for an extension, seek to agree that extension approved by the House with the EU, and bring forward the necessary legislation to change the exit date commensurate with that extension.