Labour tees up crunch Commons showdown by backing Remainer plot to delay Brexit

Theresa May is today facing another devastating blow to her Brexit strategy after Labour lined up behind a Remainer plot to rule out no deal.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said his party is ‘highly likely’ to support an attempt by pro-EU MPs to seize control of Parliamentary business from the government, so legislation can be passed extending the Article 50 process.

The endorsement puts Mrs May on track for another humiliating defeat when the plan comes before the Commons next week, as more than a dozen Tories have vowed to rebel. 

Trade Secretary Liam Fox warned this morning that the scheme would have a ‘calamitous’ effect on public faith in politics – suggesting no deal was preferable to postponing Brexit. 

Meanwhile, George Osborne has joined the attack on the government by warning that crashing out of the EU would be like playing ‘Russian roulette’ with the UK economy.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said his party is ‘highly likely’ to support an attempt by pro-EU MPs to seize control of Parliamentary business from the government

Trade Secretary Liam Fox warned this morning in Davos that the scheme could cause constitutional chaos, and would have a 'calamitous' effect on public faith in politics

Trade Secretary Liam Fox warned this morning in Davos that the scheme could cause constitutional chaos, and would have a ‘calamitous’ effect on public faith in politics

Theresa May (pictured outside No10 today) is facing another devastating blow to her Brexit strategy after Labour lined up behind a Remainer plot to rule out no deal

Theresa May (pictured outside No10 today) is facing another devastating blow to her Brexit strategy after Labour lined up behind a Remainer plot to rule out no deal

The former chancellor, who now edits the Evening Standard, insisted the prospect of crashing out of the EU is so bad that delaying the Brexit date is now the ‘most likely option’.

Speaking to the BBC in Davos, Mr Osborne compared no deal to a game of Russian roulette where the ‘gun is held to the British economy’s head’.

What is Tuesday’s Plan B vote and what will it mean?

What is happening? 

Because Theresa May’s Brexit deal was defeated, the law says she must tell Parliament what her Plan B is.

This has to be done in a motion to the Commons, which will be voted on by MPs next Tuesday night.

That motion can be re-written by MPs if they table amendments and win a vote in favour of them.

Some amendments have already been tabled and MPs can keep producing them until Monday night.

What does May’s plan say? 

It promises more cross-party working, renews commitments to protecting workers’ rights after Brexit and says the PM will ask Brussels for more concessions on the backstop.

It it based on the current deal that was crushed by 230 votes last week.

What do the main amendments say? 

Jeremy Corbyn’s amendment says Parliament should vote on ‘options’ including a renegotiation of the deal to get a permanent customs union and for a second referendum. 

A cross party amendment from Yvette Cooper and Nicky Morgan seeks to block no deal by giving time to a draft law that would require the Government to delay Brexit if a deal has not been agreed by February 26. It upturns normal convention by putting a backbench MP’s Bill ahead of Government plans. 

An amendment from Tory rebel Dominic Grieve seeks to set up weekly debates that would mean regular votes on what to do in the absence a deal. His amendments sets aside six named days for the debates – including as late as March 26. 

What would the vote do? 

Legally nothing – but if the Commons votes in favour of a clear way forward by a majority it will be a major political signal of what might happen.

Is it a new ‘meaningful vote’ that can approve May’s deal? 

No. At some point, the PM will have to stage a repeat of last week’s vote to get explicit approval from MPs to go ahead with her deal if she wants it to survive. 

He added: ‘I think at the moment delay looks like the most likely option because at least that gives some space to explore whether there’s an alternative deal on the table.

‘I doubt there is, but that’s worth exploring, or whether we need to resolve this through a referendum.’ 

Mr McDonnell gave a major boost to the Remainer revolt last night when he described the cross-party Bill – backed by Labour’s Yvette Cooper and Tory Nick Boles among others – as ‘sensible’ and said it was ‘increasingly likely’ that his party would back it.

Their proposal would see the constitution effectively turned on its head to secure Parliamentary time for the legislation – which would order the extension of the Article 50 withdrawal process if there is no new deal with Brussels by the end of February.

Mr McDonnell told BBC Two’s Newsnight: ‘Yvette Cooper has put an amendment down, which I think is sensible.

‘It says to the Government you’ve run down the clock so much, it looks as though if you can’t get a deal by February 26… the Government will then have to bring forward proposals to extend that.

‘So I think it’s increasingly likely already that we’ll have to take that option because the Government has run the clock down.’

Mr McDonnell said Labour had to go through its own party processes to determine whether they would back it, but added: ‘It’s highly likely but we’ll go through our normal process of consultation with our members.’ 

But Dr Fox, who is in Davos for the World Economic Forum, said that some amendments tabled by backbenchers presented a ‘real danger’ constitutionally. 

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that ‘there are many who talk about delaying Brexit when what they really mean is not having Brexit at all’, saying that would be the ‘worst outcome’.

Asked if he believed that a delayed Brexit – via an extended Article 50 period – was worse than a no-deal Brexit, he said: ‘You need to think about the political consequences as well as the short-term economic consequences.

‘There is no doubt that leaving with a deal and minimising disruption both to the UK and our EU trading partners is in our best interest.

‘But I think the most calamitous outcome would be for Parliament, havin promised to respect the result of the referendum, to turn around and say it wouldn’t.’

It comes after businessman Sir James Dyson delivered a blow to Brexit Britain after announcing he is to relocate the Dyson head office from the UK to Singapore. 

He was heavily criticised for the move, which Liberal Democrat Layla Moran said smacked of ‘staggering hypocrisy’, while Solicitor General Robert Buckland said he was ‘disappointed’ by the announcement.

The bombshell move will mean Dyson is no longer a British registered company and Singapore will become its main tax base.

And in a further blow, ferry giant P&O announced it is to re-register its UK fleet under the Cyprus flag ahead of Brexit.

Elsewhere, a report leaked to Sky News suggested Border Force planning for a no-deal Brexit warns of ‘significant outbound queues’ at the Eurostar and a potential ‘degradation’ of border security.

The presentation by the Home Office agency, seen by Sky, also predicted there could be a ‘loss of data’ and a potential surge in non-EU passenger traffic if there is a reduction in the value of the pound.

Ms Cooper’s amendment is one of several tabled by MPs to the Prime Minister’s deal, the rejection of which by an overwhelming 230 votes last week has thrown into doubt proposals for a backstop to keep the Irish border open.

George Osborne has joined the attack on the government by warning that crashing out of the EU would be like playing 'Russian roulette' with the UK economy

George Osborne has joined the attack on the government by warning that crashing out of the EU would be like playing ‘Russian roulette’ with the UK economy

Labour's Hilary Benn (left) and Yvette Cooper are among the senior MPs trying to curb the government's Brexit policy 

Labour’s Hilary Benn (left) and Yvette Cooper are among the senior MPs trying to curb the government’s Brexit policy 

In a break from usual procedures, the amendments will be voted on by MPs on January 29 in another day of high Brexit drama in the Commons which could put Mrs May under intense political pressure to change course.

One plan, tabled by Tory Dame Caroline Spelman and Labour’s Jack Dromey, would effectively rule out a no-deal Brexit. 

Another, from Conservative former attorney general Dominic Grieve, would give MPs powers to take control of the parliamentary agenda on a series of days in the run-up to the official date of EU withdrawal on March 29 to pass resolutions on the way ahead.

Labour’s Hilary Benn is hoping to secure a range of indicative votes on various Brexit options.

And the chairman of the Commons Northern Ireland Committee, Conservative Andrew Murrison, put forward proposals – which he said were designed to appeal to ‘moderate MPs who just want Brexit sorted’ – for a time limit on the backstop.

Labour’s frontbench tabled its own amendment calling for a vote on the party’s plan for a customs union with the EU and on whether to legislate for a public vote.

 

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