Theresa May has agreed to allow MPs to debate her government's plans to leave the European Union but has ruled out a parliamentary vote before the start of formal talks next year. The prime minister offered the concession as Conservatives joined Labour MPs to demand that Parliament should be able to scrutinise the Brexit plan before she invokes article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.
Opening a debate on the issue in the House of Commons, Labour's Brexit spokesman, Keir Starmer, said that although the British people voted to leave the EU, they did not vote on the exit terms.
“It’s frankly astonishing that the government proposes to devise the negotiating terms of our exit from the EU, then to negotiate, and then to reach a deal without a vote in this house,” he said.
“I have accepted, I’ve stood here and accepted, there’s a mandate for exit. There is no mandate for the terms. It has never been put to the country. It has not even been put to the secretary of state’s political party and it has not been put to this house. Where is the mandate on the terms?”
The pound fell briefly to a 168-year low amid market turbulence some MPs blamed on uncertainty over the government’s Brexit plans. Ms May has until now insisted that there would be no “running commentary” on the negotiations and on Wednesday rejected claims that her strategy was a shambles.
Labour’s parliamentary motion calls for “proper scrutiny” by MPs of the government’s plans before article 50 is triggered but stops short of demanding a vote prior to the start of formal talks. The government tabled an amendment, which Labour accepted, stating that negotiations for Brexit must be handled in a way that “respects the decision” reached in June’s referendum.
Veto
The secretary of state for exiting the European Union,
David Davis
, said MPs could not be allowed to have a veto over the triggering of article 50 but he suggested that MPs would be able to debate the substance of the Brexit plan.
“I’ve asked the chief whip through usual channels for a series of debates so that the house can air its views. It would be very surprising if we had those debates without presenting to them something to debate,” he said.
Former chancellor Ken Clarke was among a number of Conservative MPs to warn that uncertainty over the form Brexit would take was unsettling financial markets and inhibiting investment in Britain. He said that statements made by ministers at last week's Conservative party conference in Birmingham gave the impression that the government had made up its mind to leave both the single market and the customs union.
“The reaction in the markets was only too obvious. It has continued ever since with continued pronunciations of uncertainty that are holding things back very badly.
“The pound has devalued to an extent that would have caused a political crisis 30 years ago when I first came here, and not for the first time,” he said.
Former Labour leader Ed Miliband said the referendum had left Britain deeply divided and that both sides in the debate had a responsibility to help build a national consensus and to stop impugning each other's motives.
"The vast majority of people who voted to leave did not do so because of prejudice. And, if I can put it the other way, those who are now advocating proper scrutiny and consent from this Parliament are not doing so, as the Daily Mail says today, because we want to reverse the vote.
“It is for much deeper reasons than that: it is about the mandate from the referendum,” he said.
