British lawmakers have voted to play a bigger role in Brexit, giving themselves the power to express their preference for different options in an unprecedented move that the government called “dangerous.”
Lawmakers on Monday evening won a vote that will allow them to seize control of parliamentary business today by 329 to 302, with three junior ministers quitting after voting against the government.
The government usually controls the scheduling of votes in Parliament.
Photo: EPA-EFE / Jessica Taylor / UK Parliament
British Prime Minister Theresa May’s government yesterday said that Parliament’s decision to take control of the stalled process underscored the need for lawmakers to approve her twice-defeated deal.
British Secretary of State for Health and Social CareHealth Secretary Matt Hancock yesterday told the BBC that the government would not “pre-commit” to accepting the option backed by lawmakers.
Lawmakers should support the prime minister’s agreement because “the best way through this impasse is the one deal that’s been negotiated with the EU,” he said.
Pro-Brexit tabloid The Sun yesterday said that May had “lost control of the Brexit process to MPs in a humiliating defeat.”
The Times also said the prime minister had been “humiliated by Tory rebellion” as the Cabinet “prepares for (a) snap election.”
Following Monday’s vote, British Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt and undersecretary of state for primary care and public health Steve Brine resigned, a government source said, while minister for business and industry Richard Harrington announced his decision to leave the government on Twitter.
In his resignation letter, Harrington said the government’s approach was “playing roulette with the lives and livelihoods of the vast majority of people in this country.”
Brine yesterday said Parliament might be able to break the deadlock.
“The bottom line is that something has got to change,” he said. “We are stuck in this maddening impasse where we go round and round in circles, something has to move us forward. The House of Commons is not going to come up with something completely crazy.”
Britain’s Department for Exiting the EU said in a statement it was “disappointed” by the vote, adding that it “upends the balance between our democratic institutions and sets a dangerous, unpredictable precedent.”
Lawmakers now have the chance to vote on various options, such as revoking Article 50 and canceling Brexit, holding another referendum, a deal including a customs union and single market membership or leaving the EU without a deal.
However, even if lawmakers decide a majority course of action, the government is not legally bound to follow their instructions.
“The government will continue to call for realism — any options considered must be deliverable in negotiations with the EU,” the department said.
May said that she was “skeptical” about the process and that similar efforts in the past “produced contradictory outcomes or no outcomes at all.”
May on Monday said she had still not secured the votes needed to get her own, twice-rejected Brexit deal through Parliament, raising again the prospect that Britain could crash out of the EU in just over two weeks’ time.
Anxious at the deepening crisis in London, EU leaders last week agreed to postpone Brexit to avoid a potentially catastrophic “no deal” divorce on Friday, when 46 years of ties were formally scheduled to end, but they warned that unless May can persuade lawmakers this week to support her withdrawal deal, Britain must come up with a new plan by April 12 — or leave its closest trading partner with no deal at all.
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said the government was a “national embarrassment,” adding: “We will still face the prospect of a disastrous no-deal Brexit.”
Lawmakers have already voted against a “no deal” Brexit, but this remains the default legal position unless they agree an alternative.
What happens to May’s prime ministership if Parliament favors a more EU-friendly Brexit that contradicts her policies is unclear.
Additional reporting by AP and Reuters
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