Hostile Conservative rebels force No 10 to delay flagship Brexit bill

[Denzil_DC]

No 10 has been forced to delay its flagship Brexit bill after Conservative rebels backed a series of hostile amendments.

Ministers had planned to push the EU Withdrawal Bill, which has passed its second reading in the House of Commons, through to committee stage next week.

But the timetable has slipped after the Tory whips decided they needed more time to strike compromises with rebel MPs in order to avoid a series of damaging defeats.

In total 300 amendments and 54 new clauses have been tabled to the bill, which transfers European law onto the domestic statute book after Brexit, underlining the resistance within the Commons from both opposition parties and some Conservative MPs.

http://news.sky.com/story/hostile-tory-rebels-force-no-10-to-delay-flagship-brexit-bill-11077953

[LeftishBrit]

1. Glad that it's not being railroaded through.

I have been saying for some time that the UK seems determined to become the first country in history to impose economic sanctions on itself, and that it's no wonder that masochism used to be called 'la vice anglaise'. I heard an even stronger expression recently: 'The UK may end up as the first country to receive a Darwin Award!'

Pure madness.

[syringis]

2. Is it there any chance...

...to see someone half responsible, emerging soon who will try to fix this genuine absurdity called Brexit ?

As European who strongly support and advocates the EU, the best move we ever had in Europe, I don't want you Britton to be out. Of course, there is a lot of problems to solve and yes, it is not easy, but Rome was not built in a day...

In Belgium, our national motto is "L'union fait la force" : "strength through unity".

[Denzil_DC]

3. Short answer: "No."

The bill that's being held up by these amendments and proposed new clauses would change our (unwritten) constitution radically, and give the government of the day enormous powers to change and make laws without having to deal with Parliament.

The hold-ups won't directly affect the process of Article 50, but may ensure at least some parliamentary accountability for the government's agenda.

[Denzil_DC]

4. Related: "MPs move to block Theresa May from signing 'no deal' Brexit"

A powerful cross-party group of MPs is drawing up plans that would make it impossible for Theresa May to allow Britain to crash out of the EU without a deal in 2019. The move comes amid new warnings that a “cliff-edge” Brexit would be catastrophic for the economy.

One critical aim of the group – which includes the former Tory chancellor Kenneth Clarke and several Conservative ex-ministers, together with prominent Labour, SNP, Liberal Democrat and Green MPs – is to give parliament the ability to veto, or prevent by other legal means, a “bad deal” or “no deal” outcome.

...

Several hundred amendments to the EU withdrawal bill include one tabled by the former cabinet minister Dominic Grieve and signed by nine other Tory MPs, together with members of all the other main parties, saying any final deal must be approved by an entirely separate act of parliament.

...

A separate amendment tabled by Clarke and the former Labour minister Chris Leslie says Theresa May’s plan for a two-year transition period after Brexit – which she outlined in her recent Florence speech – should be written into the withdrawal bill, with an acceptance EU rules and law would continue to apply during that period. If such a transition was not agreed, the amendment says, exit from the EU should not be allowed to happen.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/oct/14/cross-party-group-no-deal-theresa-may-brexit-eu

The hubbub in parliament's growing, with even the DUP strongly opposed to a "no deal" Brexit, but it's not clear how much support each of these amendments etc. will actually muster in the Commons. Some Tories are indicating they'd vote against any amendment tabled by Labour's front bench, but might accept Labour backbench initiatives. It's a fine time to be playing at politics.