SO, in the end – after some frantic negotiations – the Government has got the support it needs in the House of Commons. But what sort of victory is it really? A Tory rebellion on Brexit has been headed off, but in every other respect nothing has been won and everything has been put off and delayed yet again. Nicola Sturgeon put it well in her response to the Commons shenanigans – the vote, said the First Minister, was nothing more than another dollop of Brexit fudge.
The compromise is also of a particularly tortuous variety. At stake was the Tory rebel Dominic Grieve’s amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill requiring MPs to be given the chance to approve or reject a no-deal Brexit. The Government had said that, in the event of a no-deal, MPs would be offered a “neutral motion” allowing them only to take note of the situation. Mr Grieve, however, tabled an amendment that would have required MPs to be given the chance to approve or reject the Government’s plans – the so-called meaningful vote.
For a while over the last few days, and up until the last few hours, it did look like Mr Grieve’s amendment had a chance of succeeding, but then ministers cobbled together a compromise, saying the Speaker would be able to decide at the time whether MPs are given a meaningful vote. It was a clear case of kicking the can up the road, but it seemed to be enough for most of the rebels.
However, as with most of the Brexit compromises that have got us, limping, to this point, it is paper thin. Mr Grieve said the Government statement meant the sovereignty of Parliament had been acknowledged, but the Brexiteer Liam Fox appeared to dismiss it all as a few “procedural changes”. In other words, the compromise has done nothing to fix the divide that runs right down the middle of the Conservative party.
Instead, Theresa May has merely postponed the day when she will have to face down one or other of the two wings of the party. For months now, the Prime Minister has attempted to hold together an impossible union between the extreme Brexiteers, who almost seem to delight in the prospect of no-deal, and the Remainer rebels in her party who, quite rightly, see what a disaster Britain leaving the EU without a deal would be. But this union of two competing forces will not hold forever.
In finding a compromise with the rebels, Theresa May has also merely postponed the inevitable battle between Government and Parliament until the end of the year. There is a huge amount at stake with Brexit – from the living standards and jobs of British citizens to the integrity of the United Kingdom itself – and, whether it’s in a few weeks or a few months, the hope must be that the rebels will rise again so the voice of the Commons is heard. Further delay _ and another dollop of fudge – can only postpone that truth for so long.
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