Uk politics

Tuesday

Katy Balls

Last night’s vote takes some of the pressure off Theresa May

The failure of any Brexit option to wield a majority in Monday's indicative votes appears to have eased the pressure on No. 10. Ministers had been expecting five hours of meetings today but the first cabinet has been delayed and there is an expectation that the meeting will not run on so long. One minister points out that there is now less pressure on the government to come up with an immediate decision on whether to pursue a softer Brexit, to attempt a no-deal Brexit or to go to the polls if May's deal fails a fourth time. That's not to say today's meeting will be a walk in the park. I understand the pre-reading material includes background for decisions that need to be taken soon regarding no-deal preparations.

Monday

Daniel DePetris

Britain must follow Germany’s example to help end Yemen’s civil war

There is no civil war in the world today whose effects are so detrimental to civilians as the conflict engulfing Yemen. The war, pitting a Houthi rebellion in control of the Yemeni capital against the nominal Yemeni government in the south, just crossed its four-year anniversary last week. The United Nations is trying its best to end the fighting, with little to show for it other than a ceasefire in the Yemeni port city of Hodeida which may or (more likely) may not get peace talks off the ground. Unlike the United Kingdom, which has exported £5.7 billion of arms to the Saudi-led military coalition bombing Yemen to smithereens, Germany has largely been a passive spectator to the conflict.

George Peretz

Why Common Market 2.0 is the Brexit we need

In recent weeks, there has been a lot of inaccurate media coverage of Common Market 2.0, which proposes that the UK should remain a member of the European Economic Area (EEA) after Brexit. The fundamental purpose of the EEA Agreement is to extend the benefits of the single market to countries that are outside the European Union but members of the European Free Trade Association (Efta). EEA membership for non-EU states involves accepting the rules of the single market – including the four freedoms – but excludes other EU policies that many in the UK dislike, such as economic and monetary union, political union, the common agricultural policy, the common fisheries policy, and other common policies.

Steerpike

Watch: Nick Boles quits the Tory party

Nick Boles has just quit the Tory party on the floor of the House of Commons. Minutes after his Common Market 2.0 Brexit plan was rejected by MPs, Boles took to his feet to announce his decision to resign the Tory whip. Here is what he said: 'I have given everything to an attempt to find a compromise that can take this country out of the European Union while maintaining our economic strength and political cohesion. I accept I have failed. I have failed chiefly because my party refuses to compromise. I regret therefore to announce that I can no longer sit for this party.

Tom Goodenough

MPs reject soft Brexit options in Commons vote

MPs have once again failed to reach an agreement on their preferred Brexit option. The Commons rejected a customs union with the EU, Common Market 2.0, a confirmatory public vote and a bid to revoke Article 50 in the event of no deal being reached. Four amendment were considered – and voted down – by MPs tonight. Motion C, put forward by Ken Clarke, urged the government to pursue a customs union with the EU. It was narrowly rejected by 276 to 272. Motion D, Nick Boles’ ‘Common Market 2.0’, proposed that Britain opt for membership of the European Free Trade Association and EEC. It was rejected by 282 to 261. Motion E called for any Brexit deal agreed by Parliament to be put to the public. It was voted down by 292 by 280.

James Kirkup

The opponents of Common Market 2.0 show why it’s the best Brexit option

Nick Boles’ Common Market 2.0 plan for Brexit has an awful lot going for it: it would honour the instruction of the British people to leave the European Union, while minimising the economic cost of that decision by keeping the UK largely within the Single Market. And the fact that the previous paragraph will drive some people into a frenzy of rage says quite a lot about those people, and even more about the Brexit debate as a whole.  In fact, the story of Common Market 2.0 is the story of Brexit. It captures many of the key disasters of this national debacle and highlights the way in which people on all sides have colluded to destroy a sensible centre where a workable Brexit compromise might have been built.

Steerpike

Watch: Anna Soubry and Jacob Rees-Mogg clash in the Commons

There are still a few hours to go until Parliament votes once again on Brexit, but it is already getting somewhat heated in the Commons. Anna Soubry attempted to take Jacob Rees-Mogg to task over his decision to back Theresa May's Brexit deal. Here's what she said: Would he like to tell the House why it is that, a few weeks ago, he voted against the government's withdrawal agreement, but on Friday he voted for it? And why he is entitled to a vote and to change his mind but the people of this country are not? But unfortunately for Anna Soubry, her decision not to stand for a by-election having resigned the Tory whip came back to haunt her.

Steerpike

Tory MP: I was wrong to vote for May’s Brexit deal

There was a glimmer of hope for Theresa May and her Brexit deal on Friday when some Tory eurosceptics decided to vote for the withdrawal agreement after all. Richard Drax was one of them. But now he says he regrets doing so. He told the Commons this afternoon: I do feel I have not been true to myself. Although doing what I believed to be in the country's best interests at that moment in time, I quickly realised that I should not have voted with the government on Friday afternoon. What I should have done – and did not – was to trust my instincts and those of the British people. I made the wrong call on Friday. If the Prime Minister's Brexit deal is ever going to pass, she needs to win over Tory MPs, not lose them. Could this finally be game over for the withdrawal agreement?

James Forsyth

Why Norway Plus is a step too far for the Tories

The Norway Plus campaign has had a big boost today with both Labour and the SNP saying they’ll whip in favour of it. Given that the plan might well be acceptable to the DUP – as it means that the backstop wouldn’t come into force – and the Cabinet will be abstaining, it has a chance of getting a majority tonight. Though the number of Labour MPs who won’t want to back continuing free movement or are holding out for a second referendum means it’ll probably fall just short. If it does pass, then the chances of a general election go up again. Fighting an election on the customs union would be a hard ask. It is difficult to see how other issues wouldn’t crowd it out after the first few days of the campaign.

Brendan O’Neill

What Jon Snow meant when he talked about ‘white people’ | 1 April 2019

Jon Snow has had a lot of flak for his ‘white people’ comment at the tail end of his report from the Leave Means Leave march on Friday. But in my view he hasn’t had enough. Because it seems pretty clear to me that he wasn’t simply disparaging whiteness and openly commenting on the racial make-up of a protest, which would have been bad enough — since when was it the job of newsreaders to point out people’s skin colour? No, he was also being classist, a bit of a snob.

Rupert Darwall

A Customs Union isn’t the way out of the Brexit mess

For some of those desperate for Britain to stay put in the EU, the Customs Union option functions as a handy obsession. Ministers, too, appear to be rallying behind this as a solution to the Brexit crisis, amid reports that dozens of senior Tories could vote for the UK to stay in a customs union in tonight's vote. They are making a big mistake. There is no substantive case for irrevocably and permanently subjecting Britain to the European Union’s Customs Union. Rather than attempt to demonstrate how being tied to the Customs Union furthers the national interest, the best its proponents can do is pitch it as a tactical compromise.

Robert Peston

Will Labour MPs back a bid to revoke Article 50?

Labour has not tabled a motion for today’s indicative votes on a way through the Brexit mess – which feels like an important moment, perhaps because it has recognised that its proprietary version of Brexit is dead and its role instead is to work with all MPs to identify a deliverable alternative (which could be no Brexit at all) to the Prime Minister’s thrice rejected plan. Presumably the thrust of Labour’s effort in the hours ahead will be to secure support for the Kyle/Wilson call for a “confirmatory” referendum (a referendum on any Brexit deal approved by parliament). But even so, the prospect of a majority of MPs backing a people’s vote today is slim.

Saturday

Katy Balls

Who would lead the Tories into a snap election?

After Theresa May's deal was defeated in the House of Commons for a third time, there's heightened speculation that we could now be heading for a snap election. With the Withdrawal Agreement defeated by 58 votes, even if No. 10 tries to put it to another vote it's hard to see how May would manage the numbers. This is why talk has turned to an early election. In the immediate aftermath of that result, both Jeremy Corbyn and the SNP's Ian Blackford called for one. Meanwhile, Theresa May gave the biggest hint yet that she could go for one – 'I fear we are reaching the limits of this process in this House'. If MPs fail to get behind May's plan, they could use the indicative votes next week to push for a softer Brexit in the form of a Norway style model or a permanent customs union.

Friday

Robert Peston

A no-deal Brexit or general election are now likelier than ever

Maybe I am simply in the thrall of the powerful emotions manifested by MPs in their debate on Friday, but their rejection of the Withdrawal Agreement just now feels the most significant event to date on the long and tortuous road to Brexit or revocation. Because the EU just a week ago bent its rules to accommodate the Prime Minister's request for a modest Brexit delay, and also tried to make it easier for her to ratify the deal by saying only the divorce part – the Withdrawal Agreement – would need MPs' approval to secure a postponed Brexit date of May 22 for leaving the EU. Parliament has thrown the compromise offered by the EU's 27 leaders back in their faces.

Tom Goodenough

Theresa May’s Brexit deal rejected again by Parliament

Theresa May's Brexit deal has been voted down for a third time by MPs. Parliament rejected the Prime Minister's withdrawal agreement by 344 to 286 votes, a margin of 58. May said it is a 'matter of profound regret that once again we have been unable to support leaving the EU in an orderly manner'. The PM also hinted at the possibility of an early general election: 'I fear we are reaching the limits of the process in this House,' she told MPs. The EU reacted to May's third defeat in Parliament by calling an emergency Brexit summit on April 10, just days before Britain could leave the EU under a no-deal scenario.

The Spectator

Full list: the Tory MPs who have switched to backing May’s deal

Despite suffering two historic losses in the House of Commons, Theresa May will bring her Brexit deal back for a third time today, after separating the withdrawal agreement from the political declaration. At the last vote on her deal, the Prime Minister lost by a majority of 149, which included 75 Tory rebels and 10 DUP MPs. Ahead of MV3, Coffee House will be keeping track of the Tory rebels who voted against May's deal last time, but have now publicly announced that they are supporting it. To have any chance of winning, May will need the support of the DUP (who have said they oppose the deal) and roughly the same amount of Labour votes as there are Tory rebels.

Thursday

Will Robinson

The big problem with the ‘Revoke Article 50’ petition

Writing a piece on why the ‘Revoke Article 50’ petition is a waste of time, for an audience consisting of the student body of the fourth most Remain city in the country (Oxford), is not the easiest task. So I’ll try to avoid making the arguments that the petition-signatories amongst you might be expecting me to make: I could frame my argument around the fact that some of the signatures appear to have come from all over the globe – including from North Korea – and that, therefore, this petition is broken and should have no bearing over our politics: this is why we register to vote and then do so at a local polling station. But I won’t.

James Kirkup

Nick Boles is a rare hero in a Parliament full of cowards

Failure. A failure of politics, a failure of courage. MPs have failed over Brexit, time and time again. Worse, many MPs fail to realise how badly they’re failing, the harm they are doing.  This isn’t true of everyone in the Commons. There are still some heroes. Nick Boles is one.  His cross-party Common Market 2.0 plan – a Norwegian model of Brexit – is not yet dead but has been grievously wounded. It was attacked from both sides. The hard Brexiteers said it wasn’t hard enough, even though it’s what many of them promised or wanted before the referendum.

Steerpike

David Lidington’s new nickname

David Lidington found himself briefly trending on Twitter over the weekend after reports began to circulate that May's de facto deputy was being talked up as a caretaker prime minister. The idea was that Lidington – a former Europe minister who voted Remain – could step in for May and act as a unifying leader who could reach some form of Brexit consensus in the House of Commons – later standing aside for a full blown leadership contest to take place. However, owing to the fact that Brexiteers suspected this form of Brexit consensus would involve reaching across the House and pivoting to a soft Brexit, the idea quickly fell flat. Lidington even took the step of using an interview to rule himself out.