British MPs will vote on Theresa May’s Brexit deal on December 11 after five days of debate, the UK’s Prime Minister has confirmed. The timing gives Mrs May a fortnight to avert what threatens to be a humiliating defeat at the hands of scores of Conservative rebels.
The British PM received a largely hostile reception as she told the House of Commons her Brexit deal “delivers for the British people”, and warned that rejecting it would put the UK on the path to division and uncertainty.
She was loudly barracked by MPs as she insisted that no better deal was available than the Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration on future relations endorsed by EU leaders in Brussels on Sunday.
Former minister Mark Francois branded her deal a “surrender” and said opposition from Eurosceptic Tories and the Democratic Unionist Party meant it was already “dead as a dodo”.
Ex-defence secretary Sir Michael Fallon described the deal as “a huge gamble” which involved the UK paying a £39 billion divorce bill and giving up its votes and veto without any firm commitment on future trade relations. But Mrs May said: “I believe our national interest is clear.
“The British people want us to get on with a deal that honours the referendum and allows us to come together again as a country, whichever way we voted.
“This is that deal. A deal that delivers for the British people.”
In a sign that she aims to go over fractious MPs’ heads and appeal directly to voters for their backing, Mrs May said parliamentarians had a “duty” to listen to their constituents before taking their decision in the national interest.
But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the Commons would have “very little choice” but to reject Mrs May’s “botched” deal, which he described as “bad for this country”.
With 90 or more Conservative MPs indicating they could rebel in the “meaningful vote”, Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay admitted Mrs May faces a “challenging” division.
European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker warned that there would be no more negotiation if MPs vote down the agreement, telling the BBC: “This is the best deal for Britain … and this is the only deal possible, so if the House says no, we would have no deal.”
Addressing the Commons the day after returning from Brussels, Mrs May said: “I can say to the House with absolute certainty that there is not a better deal available.
“Our duty as a Parliament over these coming weeks is to examine this deal in detail, to debate it respectfully, to listen to our constituents and decide what is in our national interest.”
Mrs May said MPs faced a choice: “We can back this deal, deliver on the vote of the referendum and move on to building a brighter future of opportunity and prosperity for all our people. Or this House can choose to reject this deal and go back to square one.
“Because no-one knows what would happen if this deal doesn’t pass. It would open the door to more division and more uncertainty, with all the risks that will entail.”
Addressing the Commons the day after returning from Brussels, Mrs May said: “I can say to the House with absolute certainty that there is not a better deal available.
“Our duty as a Parliament over these coming weeks is to examine this deal in detail, to debate it respectfully, to listen to our constituents and decide what is in our national interest.”
Mrs May said MPs faced a choice: “We can back this deal, deliver on the vote of the referendum and move on to building a brighter future of opportunity and prosperity for all our people. Or this House can choose to reject this deal and go back to square one.
“Because no-one knows what would happen if this deal doesn’t pass. It would open the door to more division and more uncertainty, with all the risks that will entail.”
Mr Corbyn said: “The Prime Minister says if we reject this deal, it will take us back to square one. The truth is, under this Government we have never got off square one.
“This botched deal is still a bad deal for the country and all yesterday did was mark the end of this Government’s failed and miserable negotiations.”
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