Many British people voted to leave the EU in the so-called Brexit because they felt the political elite no longer spoke for them. A vote in parliament against starting the process to trigger article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to leave the EU would have gone a long way to proving their point. As a result, the opposition Labour Party, Liberal Democrats, Scottish National Party (SNP) and other smaller parties were walking a thin line this week during the debate in parliament regarding the government's European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill that gives Prime Minister Theresa May's government the green light to trigger Article 50 to start formal negotiations for exiting the EU. On the one hand, the opposition MPs needed to ensure that they could scrutinise the process for the withdrawal, without wanting it to look as if they were trying to block Brexit. Even before the debate, opposition MPs were accused of trying to block exiting the EU after tabling 146 pages of amendments to the government bill, which is just eight lines long. May's response was a warning to MPs not to “obstruct” the will of UK voters by blocking the bill aimed at getting Brexit talks with the EU underway. “Our European partners now want to get on with the negotiations, so do I, and so does this House, which last week voted by a majority of 348 in support of the government triggering Article 50,” she said. “There are of course further stages for the bill in committee and in the Lords, and it is right that this process should be completed properly. But the message is clear to all – this House has spoken and now is not the time to obstruct the democratically expressed wishes of the British people. It is time to get on with leaving the European Union and building an independent, self-governing, global Britain,” she added. Fellow Conservative Party MP John Penrose said there were plenty of ways for MPs to scrutinise the process and get information about the talks from ministers, including asking “urgent questions”. May's spokeswoman said the government had a strong preference for the short bill to continue as it was without amendment. “We've been very clear; we think this should be a straightforward bill about giving the government the power to deliver on the decision of the British people,” she said. Many of the debated amendments aimed to convince the government to take a range of actions before negotiations with the EU begin, including publishing impact assessments, releasing separate reports on the UK's relationship with 21 different EU agencies, and consulting with all the UK's devolved assemblies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Labour Party leadership had tabled an amendment that required the government to report back to parliament on the progress of Brexit negotiations every two months. Other amendments tabled by Labour aimed to give EU citizens in the UK the right to remain regardless of the outcome of the Brexit negotiations. They also required the government to commit to reaching a consensus with all the devolved administrations in the UK and asked for the publication of separate reports in different policy areas setting out the process and priorities for leaving the EU. Another amendment called for giving parliament a vote on the final deal and the power to send the prime minster back to Brussels to seek a better agreement. Labour and Welsh MPs tabled amendments arguing for Wales to be guaranteed the same levels of EU funding once Britain left the EU. The SNP tabled amendments including introducing a veto for devolved administrations during trade negotiations and the publication of impact assessments of leaving the EU and the single market and a parliamentary vote on a final deal or second referendum. However, the Commons opposed most of these amendments. A Labour Party amendment that would have forced the government to make regular reports to parliament every two months was defeated by 333 to 284, a majority of 49. Another amendment calling for the leaders of the devolved administrations to be consulted and have their views taken into account before any final deal also failed by 333 votes to 276. An SNP amendment on consulting with Scotland was defeated heavily by 332 votes to 62, a majority of 270. Another amendment calling for a report on the impact of Brexit on Wales was defeated by 330 votes to 267, a majority of 63. Welsh MP Jonathan Edwards said after the vote that “the Vote Leave Campaign promised that Wales wouldn't lose a penny if we left the European Union, and tonight Westminster confirmed that this was a devious deception designed to convince people to vote for Brexit when they knew full well that it would lead to the people of Wales becoming poorer.” “We deliberately made our amendment as amenable as possible to the Westminster parties – calling not for an outright guarantee, as we would have been entitled to do, but simply calling for a report outlining the impact that Brexit will have on Wales' public finances. That Westminster refuses even to commit to producing a report shows just how desperate they are to avoid the truth being laid bare,” Edwards said. NO SUPPORT: Opposition MPs were hopeful before the debates that they could gain support from rebel Conservatives MPs for some of the amendments, but this did not materialise. The government now looks certain to pass the Brexit Bill without serious changes. The next debates will be in the upper house of the parliament, the House of Lords. “People voted very narrowly in favour of leaving the EU, so the government does have a mandate to begin negotiating the terms of withdrawal. What the government does not have a mandate for is to take UK out of the single market, the customs union, or to take UK to the route of hard Brexit. That was not on the ballot paper. Therefore, the Liberal Democrats oppose the government plan,” said Liberal Democrat Party leader Tim Farron. “Given that the government is making these extreme choices, assuming that the 52 per cent who voted for Brexit wanted a hard one, it seems there is going to be a deal that no one knows what it is going to look like,” he warned. “The reason the Liberal Democrats have voted the way they did is because we think that the people should have the final say on the terms of a deal which no one knows what it will look like.” “Surely being inside the single market is fundamental for the UK's future. And it is wrong for the prime minsiter to give up UK being in the single market without even negotiating the new terms of our relationship with the EU. The Labour Party waved the white flag on UK engagement in the EU. But we will keep fighting for what we believe to be right,” insisted Farron. He pointed to the Liberal Democrats' decision to vote against the government's bill if parliament voted down the opposition MPs' amendments, especially the amendment related to access to the single market, immigration and vote on the final deal. The SNP MPs said they would vote down the government's bill if there was no agreement on single market and immigration policy. SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson called for the government to learn lessons from Canada, Australia and Switzerland that it is possible to have different immigration policies in one country, noting that Scotland “valued EU citizens living in this country”. In contrast, the Labour Party did not threaten to vote down the withdrawal bill, even if the amendments the Party proposed were rejected. Labour MPs said the majority were in favour of “consistency,” suggesting that the party will stick to its position of asking its MPs to vote in favour of triggering Article 50. The scale of the divisions in Britain regarding Brexit was clear for everyone to see during the debates. The Labour Party is hopelessly divided on the matter, and it is not hard to see why. Most Labour MPs were against Brexit and campaigned to remain in the EU. For most of them, the task of getting the UK out of the EU and the single market is an act of self-harm. It is an agonising process for them, both personally and politically. Some Labour members called on Labour MPs to defy the leadership and vote against triggering Article 50, while others have been pressing Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to abstain on the final vote, which would be in keeping with his promise not to block the bill. As for the SNP, the refusal of its amendments, including one calling for a veto for the devolved administrations during trade negotiations and access to the single market, will only help the Scottish government's argument to hold a second independence referendum from the UK, with a greater chance of success this time round. For the other parties, the government's position to go ahead with its version of hard Brexit is suicidal because no one voted for Brexit at any cost, they say. For many in the UK, Brexit is a huge mistake and one that cannot be reversed, even if it can be rectified. The debates in parliament were a chance to do just that by achieving a more consensual Brexit strategy between the government and the opposition in the House of Commons. This is now a missed opportunity, and the outcome will be disputed for some time. The government's resistance to accepting meaningful changes to the bill is a victory for May in the short term. However, the negotiations ahead will be lengthy and tough and the outcome anything but certain. May might ultimately regret not allowing the opposition any real say in the vote, forcing them to share the blame when things go wrong.
