British Prime Minister Theresa May never wanted to give lawmakers a vote on whether to trigger the start of Brexit, even though she is likely to win it. Eleven hours of debate showed why she was so reluctant.
Her draft law faced its first hurdle yesterday with a vote in the House of Commons. While it is almost sure to pass, fellow Conservatives want to remind May that she will not have carte blanche when it comes to negotiating the UK’s departure from the EU in the months ahead.
In speeches during a rare, late-night sitting on Tuesday, ministers of all stripes demanded more power over how May conducts the delicate talks — especially if they start to go wrong.
Photo: AFP
“As we embark on these negotiations I remain far from convinced that we will get any good deal,” Conservative Party lawmaker Anna Soubry told the chamber. “If no deal has been struck at the end of this process, all options must remain open and it will be for this place, not the government, to decide what happens next.”
At stake is how much autonomy May can exert in negotiating Brexit or whether she will make concessions to stick to her timetable of triggering the legal mechanism to quit the EU by March 31.
May is scheduled to watch a succession of lawmakers sink their teeth into her draft law during detailed debates next week. More than 100 amendments will be proposed, seeking to rewrite the bill.
Some want to tie May’s hands in the negotiations to ensure she keeps the UK in the EU single market.
On the first day of debate, a series of May’s colleagues pressed her to publish the so-called Brexit white paper before detailed line-by-line discussions begin next week.
Others said UK lawmakers must have a vote on the final deal even before the European Parliament is asked to ratify it.
For May, the possibility of suffering some kind of parliamentary defeat is real. She has a narrow Commons majority of just 16 votes.
The debate also exposed divisions within May’s own party, with anti-Brexit Soubry suggesting pro-Brexit Conservative lawmaker Michael Gove had lied during the campaign in claiming there were benefits to withdrawing from the 28-nation bloc.
Another Conservative, former minister for culture Ed Vaizey, warned that a trade deal with the US would take years to finalize and would lead to street protests.
“Please don’t mock our intelligence by claiming we are going to sign a suite of free-trade deals on day one of leaving the EU,” he said.
“We can and we must in this House hold the government to account on a range of issues,” Vaizey said.
The Conservatives promised at last year’s general election to stay in the single market, but May is now committed to leaving it, he said.
“We want to see how the government will square that circle,” he said.
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