'No deal' Tory leadership hopefuls boosted by MPs' Brexit
vote
Labour-led attempt to stop the UK leaving without a deal is
defeated, in move that could help Boris Johnson
Jessica Elgot Chief political correspondent
@jessicaelgot
Wed 12 Jun 2019 20.35 BST First published on Wed 12 Jun 2019
15.33 BST
Conservative leadership candidates including Boris Johnson
hoping to force a “deal or no deal” Brexit in October have been handed a boost
after MPs defeated a Labour-led attempt to tie the next prime minister’s hands.
Labour vowed it would not end efforts to stop no deal but
the defeat bolstered Johnson’s claim at his leadership launch that MPs would
not be prepared “reap the whirlwind” of halting Brexit entirely as Tory MPs
prepared for the first round on votingto choose the next prime minister on
Thursday.
Tory MPs cheered as the motion was defeatedby a majority of
11 on Wednesday night, after which Jeremy Corbyn was heard to say: “You won’t
be cheering in September.”
The former Conservative MP Nick Boles warned opponents of a
no-deal departure were fast running out of options – apart from a confidence
vote to bring down the government. “No-deal Brexit on 31 October is back to
being a racing certainty,” he said. “It is very hard to see where any further
legislative opportunities will come from. So it’s now a question of politics –
specifically whether a PM pursuing a no-deal Brexit can command and sustain the
confidence of the House of Commons.”
Johnson officially launched his campaign on Wednesday saying
he believed a new government “with a new mandate, a new optimism, a new
determination” could leave the EU with an amended deal by 31 October.
However, the leadership frontrunner warned that he was
determined to leave the EU by that date, whether he had achieved a new deal or
not.
“I am not aiming for a no-deal outcome, I don’t think we can
end up with any such thing. But it is only responsible to prepare vigorously
and seriously,” he said.
Johnson refused to say what he would do if he had not
secured an improved deal in time for 31 October – or whether he would resign if
the deadline were not met or no deal was prevented.
Speaking after the defeat in the Commons, the shadow Brexit
secretary, Keir Starmer, said Labour would continues its cross-party efforts to
stop no deal.
“Labour stands ready to use whatever mechanism it can to
protect jobs, the economy and communities from the disastrous consequences of a
no-deal Brexit,” he said. “Any Tory leadership candidate should know that
parliament will continue to fight against no deal.”
One shadow minister said opponents of a no-deal Brexit had
missed a crucial opportunity and said they believed they had been scuppered by
the timing. “This isn’t the end of it. We’ll just have to be doubly creative,”
they said. “The timing in the midst of [the] Tory leadership [contest] is poor,
but not our choice.”
Eight Labour MPs including Caroline Flint, John Mann and
Graham Stringer voted with the government against the motion and 13 more
abstained. Ten Conservative MPs voted with Labour.
The debate before the vote revealed fraying tempers in all
wings of both parties. The Labour MP Gareth Snell, who represents the
leave-voting seat of Stoke-on-Trent Central, said he regretted not voting for
Theresa May’s Brexit agreement. He said he would abstain because he could not
countenance parliamentary manoeuvres that would lead to a further delay.
“We will have been responsible for a no-deal Brexit by
default because of our inability to make a decision,” Snell said.
The former attorney general Dominic Grieve said he was
prepared to resign the Conservative whip and go against the government in a
no-confidence vote if it would prevent a no-deal Brexit. “I simply have to say,
here and now, I will not hesitate to do that if that is what is attempted,” he
said.
The motion proposed giving MPs control of the parliamentary
agenda in a fortnight’s time. That day could then have been used to begin
legislation to prevent the UK from leaving the EU without a deal, though it is
uncertain what form this would take.
Speaking in the debate, Starmer said MPs had been forced to
act because of suggestions from leadership candidates including Johnson and
Dominic Raab that the UK would leave – come what may – on 31 October. Raab had
even suggested he would be prepared to prorogue parliament to stop MPs’ efforts
to prevent a no-deal Brexit.
“It will introduce a safety valve in the Brexit process and
it will be a reminder to all Conservative leadership candidates that this house
will take every step necessary to prevent a no deal,” Starmer said.
The motion, which Labour tabled during an opposition day
debate, was signed by the former Conservative minister Oliver Letwin and the
leaders of the Scottish National party, Plaid Cymru, the Liberal Democrats and
the Green party.
The Brexit secretary, Steve Barclay, said it was a “blind
motion” that gave no indication as to what path MPs would try to pursue to
block a no-deal departure, and would have “virtually unlimited scope”.
Tory MPs who said they intended to back the plan included
Grieve, Antoinette Sandbach, Sam Gyimah and Jonathan Djanogly, plus Boles, who
had flown back to the UK specifically to vote on the motion.
MPs working across parties believed it was essential to try
to start efforts to stop a no-deal Brexit before the next prime minister was
installed and prior to the start of the summer recess. There are no further
opposition day debates scheduled.
Tory leadership candidates including Matt Hancock and Rory
Stewart, who have opposed no deal, had earlier made it clear they would not
back the motion.
But Hancock told the Guardian: “It’s no good just having a
Brexit position that is built on either re-running the old plan, which failed;
or threatening no deal, when parliament has voted in the past already to block
no deal. No deal isn’t a policy choice that is available to the next prime
minister.”
Earlier, Philip Hammond said Johnson’s Brexit plan was
impossible as the UK will not be able to leave the EU with a deal or without a
deal by the end of October.
Hammond cast doubt on the viability of the Brexit promises
of Johnson and other Tory leadership contenders as he gave a speech in
Westminster.
He said many of the candidates were pledging things that
they could not deliver. Asked whether Johnson’s plan to leave on 31 October
would work, he said: “I don’t think so … I think it’s not sensible for
candidates to box themselves into a corner on this. Parliament will not allow a
no-deal exit from the EU and our experience has suggested it may not be that
easy to secure a deal in parliament.”
The idea of leaving with a deal by that date would be “very
difficult or impossible”, he said.
Leadership contender Jeremy Hunt was also asked about
Hammond’s comments and said: “This is a time for skilled negotiation and not
empty threats. I’ve always wanted to keep no deal on the table as one of our
negotiating levers but we can’t be blind to the fact that there is a strong majority
in parliament against no deal and it’s likely that parliament would find a way
to block no deal if that was being pursued by the prime minister.
“That’s why we need to find a way through this that gets us
a deal. And if we want Brexit we need to choose a prime minister who can get us
a deal.”
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