MPs vote on Brexit deal today won?t be ?meaningful?

[ahlam1399]

LONDON: MPs are to vote on the government’s EU Withdrawal Agreement today (Friday). But the motion will not count as a third attempt to pass a “meaningful vote” on Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal, because it will not cover the future relationship with Europe.Commons Speaker John Bercow cleared the motion for debate, ruling that it complies with parliamentary conventions which bar ministers from asking MPs to vote repeatedly on the same proposals.If passed by MPs on Friday, the vote would qualify the UK to be granted an automatic delay to May 22 of the formal date of Brexit. But it would not allow parliament to go ahead and ratify the withdrawal deal, as Brexit legislation allows this only after the passage of a “meaningful vote” on both the Withdrawal Agreement and a Political Declaration on the future relationship.Moving the motion to enable the debate to take place on March 29 — initially slated as Brexit day — the Leader of the Commons Andrea Leadsom urged MPs to back the deal “so that we can leave the EU in an orderly way that gives businesses and people the certainty that they need”.Labour has already declared that it will not back the government in Friday’s vote, warning that it risked “the blindest of all blind Brexits”. Downing Street has said that May will not move to a third meaningful vote — known in Westminster as MV3 — unless she believes she has a realistic chance of success, having seen it defeated by 230 votes in January and 149 in March.But it is understood that Number 10 believes that passing the Withdrawal Agreement alone would allow the UK to guarantee its departure date and avoid the need for Britain to take part in European parliament elections on May 23-26.This would buy time to seek wider agreement among MPs on the shape of the UK’s future relationship with the EU, in the hope of passing MV3 in April and leaving with a deal on May 22.Significant doubts remain over whether May can secure a majority for the Withdrawal Agreement alone on Friday. The Agreement includes the controversial “backstop” customs arrangements for the Irish border which continue to represent the biggest obstacle to support from the DUP and Brexit-backing Tories in the European Research Group.And shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer made clear that Labour does not support the separation of the Withdrawal Agreement from the Political Declaration. The move could leave the UK facing “a Boris Johnson Brexit, a Jacob Rees-Mogg Brexit or a Michael Gove Brexit” after May stands down, he warned.“We would be leaving the EU, but with absolutely no idea where we are heading,” Sir Keir told a conference of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC). “That cannot be acceptable and Labour will not vote for it.”If the motion fails, the UK will have until April 12 to ask for a further extension to Brexit negotiations — which would require voters to choose new MEPs — or leave the EU without a deal.http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/com/cwEr/~4/UQLHZi1TqAE

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