THERESA May faces another parliamentary fight in the Commons after MPs were told the meaningful vote on Brexit would be far less meaningful than promised.
Late on Wednesday a letter from her Brexit Secretary, Dominic Raab, revealed that MPs would have to choose between whatever deal on the UK and the EU’s future relationship May managed to wrangle from Brussels, or crashing out of Europe with no deal at all.
That, some MPs argued, was not what had been guaranteed.
READ MORE: May 'humiliated' as crucial Brexit summit passes with no breakthrough
Dominic Grieve, the Tory MP and former Attorney General, who led the calls for a meaningful vote, accused the Government of reneging on a promise already made.
The SNP’s Pete Wishart said there should be “no suggestion that there will be a binary choice between a disastrous Brexit and the horrors of no deal.”
In his letter, Raab said: “Once the deal is presented to Parliament, the procedure through which it is voted upon must allow for an unequivocal decision, and one which is clear to the British public.
“Anything other than a straightforward approval of the deal will bring with it huge uncertainty for business, consumers and citizens.”
Labour’s leader Jeremy Corbyn said Raab’s letter was “a supreme piece of arrogance.”
“He writes to Parliament – writes, rather than turns up – and says you can only have one vote on what we put forward.
“Sorry, we’re all elected parliamentarians, there’s 650 of us, we all have ideas.
“Surely, there should be a serious and proper debate and the opportunity to amend what the Government has put forward.”
Grevie said he was “astonished” by the letter: “Leave aside the policy issues around this, this is about good faith. It’s about honesty, because one way of reading this is to suggest that the Government is trying to renege on clear assurances that were given at the time both the House of Commons and the House of Lords approved the Government’s approach.”
Yesterday, Commons leader Andrea Leadsom insisted MPs would get the final say on whether the motion can be amended, but warned them of the consequences. They should, she said, “consider the question that will, in reality, be before the United Kingdom and that is whether or not to accept the deal that the Government has negotiated with the European Union”.
Pressed to say whether or not MPs could actually amend the deal, Leadsom replied: “Anything other than a straightforward approval of the deal would lead to great uncertainty to businesses and citizens because any changes might mean that the Government is not in a position to ratify the deal.”
Speaking in the Commons, Wishart, her opposite number in the SNP, told the Tory Cabinet minister that Brexit “was all about taking back control and the sovereignty of this House”.
He added: “So it must be up to the House to determine the biggest decision that it has made for a few decades.
“We must be reassured here and today that there will not be a binary choice.”
Leadsom told the Wishart the decision would be up to the Speaker to decide.
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