20 January 2019

The Guardian: No 10 hits out at MPs trying to delay article 50 to avert no deal

Downing Street has said it is “extremely concerning” that MPs could attempt to override the government to suspend or delay the article 50 process to leave the EU in their effort to prevent a no-deal Brexit.

A slew of backbench amendments are expected to be attached to the prime minister’s statement on Monday on the way forward for the Brexit withdrawal agreement.

The Conservative MP Nick Boles and Labour’s Yvette Cooper will also put forward an amendment to attempt to change House of Commons timetabling rules. The change would pave the way for their proposed bill to extend article 50 in the absence of a deal to take precedence over other Commons business.

The former attorney general Dominic Grieve is also reported to have sought advice from a senior Commons clerk about how MPs might stop or suspend the two-year process.

One of his proposals, which would go further than Cooper and Boles’ plan, is that changing the timetable of the Commons should need the support of only 300 MPs – far from a parliamentary majority – as long as they come from five different parties, including at least 10 Tories.

A No 10 spokesman said there was deep unease at the wider implications of such amendments. “Any attempt to remove the government’s power to meet the legal conditions of an orderly exit at this moment of historic significance is extremely concerning,” he said. [...]

Full article on The Guardian

© The Guardian