MPS will today seek to begin taking back control of the Brexit process as they attempt to block the UK Government from allowing Britain to leave the EU without a deal.
Labour is set to support a backbench amendment to the Finance Bill - which implements Budget measures - that could severely restrict the Government’s taxation powers; unless, that is, a no-deal Brexit were taken off the table.
If the Opposition whips its MPs to support the proposed change, tabled by Labour’s Yvette Cooper, then, given it has the declared backing of the SNP and around a dozen Tory MPs as well as the expected support of the Liberal Democrats, then the amendment could succeed.
One Whitehall source warned the move could “paralyse government” if implemented.
In a parallel move, Theresa May is due later today in Downing St to meet a number of the 200-plus signatories, from across the parties, calling for a mechanism to avoid a no-deal Brexit.
David Mundell, the Scottish Secretary, has warned that EU withdrawal without a deal would be “catastrophic” to the economy while David Gauke, the Justice Secretary, has hinted he would resign from Cabinet if a no-deal ever happened; it is thought, he would not be alone.
In the Commons as the Prime Minister once again insisted she was continuing her mission to seek “further assurances” from the EU on the Irish backstop, Jeremy Corbyn went on the attack.
Asking an Urgent Question, the Labour leader claimed it was clear Mrs May had achieved nothing from her festive round of diplomacy and branded her Brexit Plan “Frankenstein’s monster”.
He declared: “With less than three months until we reach the Article 50 deadline there can be no more hiding and no more running away.
"This issue will define Britain's future and should not be decided by the internal machinations of the Conservative Party; this House and this country deserve much better."
Mr Corbyn asked Stephen Barclay, the Brexit Secretary, for guarantees that "faced with yet another humiliating defeat, the Prime Minister won't just run away" from next Tuesday’s vote. He demanded a "cast-iron promise" that the vote would not be dropped again.
Declaring Labour’s proposal was "riddled with contradiction," Mr Barclay told Mr Corbyn: "The reality is he opposes the preparation for no-deal, which any responsible government needs to make, while at the same time saying he will vote against the deal; it is that internal machination in the Labour Party that he needs to address."
Ian Blackford for the SNP also insisted there had been “no progress” over the Christmas break and that the PM’s intention was clear: to run down the clock on Brexit so that MPs would be deprived to any alternative to her Plan.
Urging Mr Corbyn to “get off the fence” to support a People’s Vote, the Highland MP called for the Article 50 process to be extended to avoid a cliff-edge departure and noted, to vociferous support from the Nationalist benches, how the Brexit process had simply made “even stronger” the case for Scottish independence.
Mr Barclay said the SNP was caught in a constant refrain in which it called for referendums but could “not cope” with their results. He urged it to respect the largest democratic vote the UK had ever seen.
Meanwhile, the UK Government's no-deal Brexit lorry test was branded a pointless farce by critics after fewer than 100 lorries turned up.
However, the Department for Transport defended the practice run, dubbed Operation Brock, which saw lorries descend on Manston Airport near Ramsgate and travel to Dover. Downing Street declared the Government was "satisfied" with the number of HGVs taking part.
But Richard Burnett of the Road Haulage Association dismissed the live test as “too little too late” and added: "This process should have started nine months ago. At this late stage it looks like window dressing."
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