Government sets date for Brexit vote as MPs urge May to avoid no-deal departure
The government is set to hold the delayed parliamentary vote on Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal on 15 January, it is reported.
The original vote was scheduled for 11 December, but was delayed as parliamentary arithmetic made it clear that May’s deal faced a heavy defeat.
Now, the BBC reports that the vote is scheduled to take place next Tuesday, 15 January.
Following the cancelled vote, May survived a leadership challenge triggered by disgruntled Eurosceptics in her party and has been back to Brussels to try and get additional reassurances about the so-called Irish backstop which was a major sticking point in opposition to the deal.
The UK is scheduled to leave the EU on 29 March whether May’s deal is passed by parliament or not.
With fears of a no-deal Brexit growing more than 200 MPs have signed a letter to May urging her to take no-deal Brexit off the list of possible options.
Conservative MP Dame Caroline Spelman, who helped organise the letter alongside Labour MP Jack Dromey, said a no-deal Brexit would hit the economy and cause job losses.
May has invited signatories to the letter to meet her tomorrow as she gears up to woo Tory MPs with drink receptions being held at 10 Downing Street on Monday and Wednesday,
Former foreign secretary and prominent Brexiter Boris Johnson wrote in the Telegraph today that support for a no-deal Brexit was growing amid “hysterical” warnings from the government and establishment figures of the potential effects of leaving the trade bloc without an agreement.