The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Brexit left in limbo after Johnson loses vote on timetable.
Boris Johnson’s plan to ‘bounce’ legislation through in three days fails
Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered yet another defeat in the House of Commons last night, forcing him to pause the Withdrawal Agreement Bill programme.
Members did vote in favour of a second reading of the government’s deal to leave the EU, which prompted calls of a “victory” from Mr Johnson that the House had agreed in the first instance on the deal.
But he was struck yet another blow after losing the vote on the timetable for the Bill – by 322 to 308 – to reject his plan to “bounce” legislation approving his Brexit deal through the Commons in just three days.
The House will not debate the prime minister’s deal until at least next week.
Speculation earlier in the day suggested the PM would pull the Bill if it lost last night’s second vote, but instead he chose to pause it – later clarified by the Speaker John Bercow as being “in limbo”.
No motion for a general election was called.
Following the government’s loss, leader of the opposition Jeremy Corbyn invited the prime minister to work together with the House to develop a “sensible timetable” to debate the Bill.
He said: “The House has refused to be bounced into debating a hugely significant piece of legislation in just two days with barely any notice and analysis of the economic impact of this Bill.
“The prime minister is the author of his own misfortune. So I make this offer to him tonight – work with us, all of us, to agree a reasonable timetable and I
The prime minister is the author of his own misfortune.
JEREMY CORBYN
suspect this House will vote to debate, scrutinise and, I hope, commend the detail of this Bill.”
Mr Johnson said: “I must express my disappointment that the House has again voted for delay, rather than a timetable that would have guaranteed that the UK would be in a position to leave the EU on October 31 with a deal.
“The EU must make up their minds over how to answer Parliament’s request for a delay, and the first consequence is that the government must take the only responsible course and accelerate our preparations for a no-deal outcome.”