Theresa May suffers Commons defeat over no-deal Brexit

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Theresa May was handed a humiliating defeat in parliament by Labour and Conservative MPs who organised to demonstrate the strength of parliamentary opposition to leaving the EU with no deal.

MPs voted by 303 to 296 in favour of an amendment to the finance bill tabled by Labour’s Yvette Cooper to curb some of the government’s tax administration powers in the event of no deal without explicit authorisation for parliament.

The coalition of high-profile MPs behind the amendment are expected to use the victory as a springboard for further parliamentary action to prevent the UK crashing out of the EU.

Sir Oliver Letwin, the former Tory minister who rebelled to back Cooper’s amendment, said: “The majority tonight that is expressed in this house will sustain itself. We will not allow a no-deal exit to occur at the end of March.”

-snip-

Jessica Elgot Political correspondent
Tue 8 Jan 2019 19.17 GMT


Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jan/08/theresa-may-suffers-commons-defeat-over-no-deal-brexit

[saidsimplesimon]

1. Trump was a very bad idea, Brexit

is equally damaging to British economic and political survival. Just like so many Brits, I wish we had a do over option for an illegitimate election that had Russian stoked and right wing influence.

I've read the postmortems. It's the old cycle of lick our wounds, promise never to let it happen again and do absolutely nothing to prevent a repeat.

[Recursion]

2. This is appalling

It's pretty clear Parliament won't agree to the EU's final offer for a deal

It's also pretty clear Parliament won't rescind Article 50

And now they are saying the Government can't spend any money to prepare for exiting without a deal. So it's not just going to be a hard Brexit, it's going to be a hard, blind Brexit.

[saidsimplesimon]

4. Humpty Dumpty will take a great economic fall.

Yes, you are correct, hard and blind Brexit, unless the Queen can pull a rabbit out of her crown. The tower is falling will no longer be a Bond fantasy. imo

[Bleacher Creature]

3. In 2020, the U.S. will undo it's racist, xenophobic, nationalistic mistake from 2016.

The U.K. should do the same.

[lanlady]

5. I'm having trouble unpacking what happened here

I thought the EU already made a best and final offer to Britain - no more negotiations. Take it or leave it. So it's down to one group of parliamentarians wants to take the offer and leave the EU, and the other group doesn't want to take the deal but still leave the EU? I'm so confused.

[Recursion]

6. Yes, you are right. Parliament doesn't seem to believe that.

Literally, Parliament is saying "we do not accept the final offer from the EU or the idea of no deal or the idea of cancelling Brexit". They want something that's a contradiction in terms.

[Adrahil]

7. Many of the Labour MP's don't want Brexit at all...

They are trying to force May's hand.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. The EU does have a bit of a record on making some last minute changes in negotiation

even if they'd previously said "nothing can be altered", so many people are basically pinning their hopes on that.

However, the solidarity of the EU - 27 countries, with widely differing histories and governments - has been pretty good so far. When compared with a Tory party that can't even find one negotiating position, let alone one for the UK, I think the EU is more likely to stand firm on this one than the UK is.

There are also many UK parliamentarians who don't want to leave at all. Those will have voted for this amendment, because "leave with no deal" is the worst outcome possible for them, so anything to make it less likely is good for them.