MPs have backed PM Boris Johnson's plan for the UK to leave the EU on 31 January[Post #162]

[Technics 1210]

Brexit bill to block further delay to transition

Spoiler

The government is to add a new clause to the Brexit bill to make it illegal for Parliament to extend the process beyond the end of next year.

The post-Brexit transition period - due to conclude in December 2020 - can currently be extended by mutual agreement for up to two years.

But an amended Withdrawal Agreement Bill the Commons is set to vote on this week would rule out any extension.

Critics say this raises the chance of leaving the EU without a trade deal.

But senior Cabinet Minister Michael Gove insisted both the UK and the EU had "committed themselves to making sure that we have a deal" by the end of 2020.

He also promised Parliament would be able to scrutinise the Withdrawal Agreement Bill "in depth".

Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said the move was "reckless and irresponsible" and he argued that Prime Minister Boris Johnson was "prepared to put people's jobs at risk".

Downing Street has said the government plans to ask the new Parliament to have its first debate and vote on the withdrawal agreement - the legislation needed to ratify Brexit - on Friday.

With a majority of 80 following Thursday's general election, Mr Johnson is expected to get the bill into law with few changes in time for the UK to end its EU membership on 31 January.

The government will then have until the end of the transition period on 31 December to negotiate a free trade agreement with Brussels before the trade relationship defaults to World Trade Organization (WTO) terms.

Senior EU figures, including the bloc's chief negotiator Michel Barnier, are sceptical that a deal can be agreed within that time.

Currently, if trade talks are progressing more slowly the UK and EU could agree - by July - to extend the post-Brexit transition period by one or two years.

But on Friday, the prime minister intends to expunge this clause from his Withdrawal Agreement Bill, and instead explicitly rule out any extension.

This is designed to underline to those Leave voters who have backed his party for the first time that he is determined to deliver Brexit - and he wants to quash speculation that he would be prepared to go for a deal that keeps the UK in close step with Brussels.

Government sources say that having a hard deadline will also focus the minds of both sets of negotiators on achieving a deal.

With Labour losing swathes of seats in their heartlands, Boris Johnson will claim that the opposition haven't learned any lessons if they vote against his Brexit legislation.

The prime minister promised during the general election campaign that he would not seek an extension to the transition period - persuading Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage to stand down candidates in Tory seats.

As well as ruling out an extension, the Independent reports that the amended withdrawal agreement may omit previous "provisions to ensure that workers' rights were not weakened after Brexit".

Sam Lowe, from the Centre for European Reform think tank, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that Mr Johnson's move was "slightly performative" and its effect would be "largely domestic".

"It is a firmer deadline but of course there is still some flexibility," he said.

Mr Lowe said a December 2020 deadline could help the PM manage his own party when it comes to making concessions to the EU.

"The prospect of a no-deal is still there," Mr Lowe said. "The question is whether Boris Johnson wants a no-deal but the evidence of recent time suggests no he doesn't."

The amendments to the withdrawal agreement come after Mr Johnson carried out a limited reshuffle of his government on Monday.

Simon Hart has been named as Welsh secretary, replacing Alun Cairns, who quit at the start of the election.

And Nicky Morgan stays as culture secretary, despite standing down as an MP. She is taking a peerage and will sit as a cabinet minister in the Lords.

Opposition parties said she had been "rewarded for political sycophancy".

But Ms Morgan, who will be in charge of broadband and media policy, suggested she might only be in the role for a few weeks - pending what are expected to be far-reaching changes to the PM's top team after the UK has left the EU on 31 January.

https://www.bbc.com/news/election-2019-50818134

Get. Brexit. Done.

He is not wasting time.

Loved watching the SNP squirm in Parliament! Boris totally commands the HoC. If only Labour supported Brexit in their manifesto. Oh well.

 

[MenInG]

MPs have backed Prime Minister Boris Johnson's plan for the UK to leave the EU on 31 January.

They voted 358 to 234 - a majority of 124 - in favour of the EU (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill, which now goes on to further scrutiny in Parliament.

The bill would also ban an extension of the transition period - during which the UK is out of the EU but follows many of its rules - past 2020.

Earlier, Boris Johnson argued that it would allow the UK to "move forward".

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told his MPs to vote against it, saying there was "a better and fairer way" to leave the EU.

The government insists a trade deal with the EU can be in place by the end of the transition period, but critics say this timescale is unrealistic.

The bill had been expected to pass easily after the Conservatives won an 80-seat majority at last week's general election.

MPs also backed the timetable for further debate on the bill over three days when they return after the Christmas recess - on 7, 8 and 9 January.

The government says it will get the bill into law in time for the 31 January Brexit deadline.

The legislation, which would implement the Brexit agreement the prime minister reached with the EU in October, was introduced in Thursday's Queen's Speech, setting out the government's priorities for the next year.

There are changes to the previous bill, which was backed by the Commons in October, but withdrawn by the government after MPs rejected a three-day deadline for getting it through Parliament.

The changes include:

The bill also loses a previous clause on strengthening workers' rights.

The government now says it will deal with this issue in a separate piece of legislation, but the TUC has warned that the change will help "drive down" working conditions.

Beginning the debate in the Commons earlier, the prime minister said his bill "learns the emphatic lesson of the last Parliament" and "rejects any further delay".

"It ensures we depart on 31 January. At that point Brexit will be done. It will be over," he told MPs.

"The sorry story of the last three years will be at an end and we can move forward."

Mr Johnson said it also "paves the way" for a "ambitious free trade deal" with the EU.

Labour leader Mr Corbyn said the government's "mishandling of Brexit" had "paralysed the political system," divided communities and was a "national embarrassment".

He said MPs "have to respect the decision" of the EU referendum in 2016 "and move on".

"However, that doesn't mean that we as a party should abandon our basic principles," he said.

"Labour will not support this bill as we remain certain there is a better and fairer way for this country to leave the EU."

He said there had to be something better than this "terrible" Brexit deal that would not "sell out public services" or "sacrifice hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process".


https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-50870939