29 September 2018

The Guardian: MPs could still alter successful Brexit deal, researchers find

Analysis of parliamentary procedures on both sides of the Channel show that MPs could wave Brexit through but still force concessions during the process of putting it on the statute books. They could also make amendments to the withdrawal bill, which could amount to a rejection of the deal.

It is widely expected that if May gets a deal she will leave as little time as possible for MPs to scrutinise it, calling a vote in the House of Commons within days of returning from Brussels. However, the researchers said this could prove problematic.

“If MPs feel they have been press-ganged into voting on a deal that they have not had sufficient time to absorb, this could create problems down the line,” said the authors of The Brexit Endgame, published on Saturday to mark the start of the six-month countdown to the departure deadline. [...]

The authors point out that if politicians vote through the deal, they will still have the option to make amendments to the withdrawal agreement when it is translated into a bill. Anything substantial would amount to a rejection, which is is unlikely, but they could win concessions at this point.

“MPs will have longer to scrutinise [the bill] than the withdrawal agreement so it is therefore conceivable that they will raise issues at this point that they did not have time to bring up or had not considered when the exit deals were passed,” they say.

MPs could make their support conditional on a vote on the final trade deal, or on a second referendum.

“As we’ve seen with previous bits of Brexit-related legislation, the threat of a defeat might lead the government to amend its proposals,” the report says. [...]

The authors’ analysis of the unprecedented European procedures also highlights the potential for changes in the unlikely event that the European parliament rejected the deal. If it did, EU negotiators would have to seek changes to the withdrawal agreement to satisfy the European parliament.

If negotiations on either side took a little longer than timetabled and the article 50 process was extended slightly, the pressure to sign off would still be immense, the authors predict. [...]

Full article on The Guardian

Full report by the UK in a Changing Europe: The Brexit Endgame

 

© The Guardian