Speaker selects seven Brexit amendments for MPs to vote on
The Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, has selected seven amendments to Theresa May’s statement on the defeat of her Brexit bill for MPs to vote on.
A total of 19 amendments were put forward by politicians from across the House. But the seven chosen by Bercow on Tuesday include an official Labour amendment tabled by Jeremy Corbyn, to seek a form of customs union; the Cooper-Boles amendment; the Grieve amendment; and the Spelman amendment, which rejects a no-deal Brexit. It is backed by 115 MPs but would have no legislative force.
Then there is a cross-party proposal to extend Article 50 by two years if a deal is not in place by the end of February; the Brady amendment; and the SNP-Plaid Cymru amendment, which is calling for an extension of Article 50 and to take a no-deal exit off the table.
The Cooper-Boles amendment has the backing of 70 MPs and Labour has cautiously indicated it will back it if Corbyn’s amendment fails.
It is seeking to guarantee parliamentary time for a private members bill, drafted by Yvette Cooper, that would extend Article 50 until the end of 2019 if May fails to secure a deal by late February. The government will whip its own MPs against it.
The Grieve amendment was drawn up by former attorney general Dominic Grieve, to give Parliament more control by creating a series of indicative votes, while the Brady amendment’s figurehead is Graham Brady, chair of the influential 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers.
His focuses on the Northern Ireland backstop and argues that it should be replaced with “alternative arrangements to avoid a hard border”. The European Union has already ruled this out, but the government has indicated it may whip MPs to support the amendment as it would allow May to return to Brussels with a clear mandate on how to get the Brexit deal through Parliament.
MPs will debate the amendments and vote on them during Tuesday afternoon and evening.