MPs Reject Johnson’s Brexit Timetable
The Commons
supported the Withdrawal Agreement Bill earlier, but voted against the short
timetable.
Earlier, the PM
warned he would seek an election if MPs dismissed the plan and the EU granted
an extension to 31 October Brexit deadline.
After the vote, he
told the Commons he would "pause" the legislation until he had spoken
to EU leaders.
A spokesman from the
European Commission said: "[The Commission] takes note of tonight's result
and expects the UK government to inform us about the next steps."
Mr Johnson told MPs
he was "disappointed" they had "voted for delay", and said
the UK "now faced further uncertainty".
But he said his
policy remained that Brexit would go ahead at the end of the month, adding:
"One way or another, we will leave the EU with this deal to which this
House has just given its assent."
Labour leader Jeremy
Corbyn said Mr Johnson was "the author of his own misfortune" - but
offered to enter discussions over a "sensible" timetable for his deal
to go through Parliament.
But the SNP's
leader, Ian Blackford, said it was "another humiliating defeat" for
the PM, and MPs had "spoken with a very clear voice to tell the PM he is
not on".
Liberal Democrat
leader Jo Swinson called on Mr Johnson to "end the brinkmanship and
replace it with some statesmanship" in order to secure an extension with
the EU.
Boris Johnson agreed
his new plan with EU leaders last week, but has repeatedly pledged to leave the
bloc by the end of October, with or without a deal.
The
bill that would turn his plan into law - the Withdrawal Agreement Bill - was
published on Monday evening, and he urged MPs to back a three-day timetable to
push it through the Commons ahead of the Halloween deadline.
The PM told
Parliament if it "decides to delay everything until January or possibly
longer", he would seek an election - but he did not say what the
government would do if the EU offered a shorter extension.
MPs did approve the
bill on its first hurdle through the Commons - called the second reading - by
329 votes to 299.
But in a vote
straight after, they rejected the so-called programme motion by 322 votes to
308 after a number of MPs criticised the pace of the legislation.
Mr Johnson told the
Commons: "I will speak to EU member states about their intentions [but]
until they have reached a decision - until we reach a decision, I will say - we
will pause this legislation."
In the meantime,
however, he said the government would "take the only responsible course
and accelerate our preparations for a no deal outcome".
The PM added:
"Let me be clear. Our policy remains that we should not delay [and] that
we should leave the EU on 31 October."
Irish Taoiseach Leo
Varadkar said he welcomed the backing of MPs for the deal, adding: "We
will now await further developments from London and Brussels about next steps,
including [the] timetable for the legislation and the need for an
extension."
But Leader of the
House Jacob Rees-Mogg said it was now "very hard to see how it is
possible" to get a deal through Parliament by the end of the month.
If an election were
to be triggered this week, the earliest it could take place would be Thursday
28 November, as the law requires 25 days between an election being called in
Parliament and polling day.
But Mr Johnson
cannot force an election himself and would need the backing of Parliament.
MPs had been due to
debate the bill over Wednesday and Thursday, but will now return to discussing
the contents of the Queen's Speech - which put forward the government's
domestic agenda for the new session of Parliament.
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