Theresa May Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
The House of Lords inflicted another defeat on the U.K. government over its key piece of Brexit legislation, voting to strip out the fixed timing for Britain to leave the European Union.
The government in November inserted 11 p.m. on March 29, 2020 into its own bill to “remove any confusion or concern about what ‘exit day’ means,” Brexit Secretary David Davis said at the time. It was viewed as an attempt to pacify Brexit supporters who feared exit talks dragging on, but critics said it removed the flexibility to extend discussions if needed. Those seeking to thwart Brexit also want to be able to extend membership to give them time to maneuver.
EU member states would have to agree unanimously to any extension.
“What is the point of putting the date on the face of this bill when it may have to be changed in circumstances which we cannot foresee?” Conservative peer Charles Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, told lawmakers on Tuesday. “This date should not be defined and specified on the face of the bill in case it becomes necessary and in the national interest to agree an extension” to talks.
Earlier, peers voted against the government on an amendment that would allow Britain to participate in EU agencies after leaving the bloc.
The defeats are another Brexit setback for Prime Minister Theresa May, who has suffered a string of losses at the hands of the unelected chamber. In the past three weeks, peers have voted to compel ministers to seek a form of customs union with the EU, curtail ministerial powers and expand the scope of a meaningful parliamentary vote on the final deal. In total, they have voted through 12 amendments against government wishes.
Though all of the changes can be reversed when the legislation returns to the House of Commons, it’s not clear there’s a majority in the lower chamber to do so. At least 10 Conservative lawmakers have put their names to an amendment on a separate piece of legislation in support of staying in a customs union -- enough to defeat the government on the Lords amendment on the same topic.
Tory rebels in the Commons also helped defeat the government to insert the provision for the meaningful vote on the final Brexit deal, before the bill moved to the Lords.
Parliament’s upper chamber voted by 311 to 233 to strip out the Brexit date, and by 298 to 227 for the change on EU agencies. Both amendments were sponsored by peers from across the political spectrum.
The amendment on EU agencies is designed to “give some element of shape to what now seems formless and void,” said Nicholas Baines, The Lord Bishop of Leeds. The government opposed the change even though what it calls for is quite similar to what May has herself proposed.
“The government considers its inclusion in the bill to be both completely unnecessary and totally inappropriate,” Brexit Minister Martin Callanan told the Lords. The legislation as currently worded didn’t prevent any future government or parliament from mirroring EU law, or choosing to participate in EU agencies, he said.
After Tuesday’s sixth and final debate at the “report stage” of the bill in the Lords, it will have a so-called third reading on May 16. Further amendments are still possible at that stage: Labour has said a debate on environmental protections is “one to watch.”
It then returns to the Commons, where lawmakers must decide whether to accept the amendments or send it back to the Lords for further consideration.
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