Article Pub: Brexit: Peers inflict 12th defeat on government by voting to remove official exit date from bill

Tuesday, 8 May 2018

Brexit: Peers inflict 12th defeat on government by voting to remove official exit date from bill

Peers have dealt a fresh blow to Theresa May’s Brexit strategy by voting to remove the official exit date from the government’s flagship EU legislation.

In the 12th defeat for the government in the Lords, Tory rebels joined peers backing a cross-party amendment to remove references to Ms May’s stated exit date, 29 March 2019, from the front of the bill.

The move is likely to infuriate Eurosceptics, who see the bid as an attempt to thwart Brexit as it would open the door for keeping Britain in the EU for longer.

Peers also defeated the government with an earlier bid to allow the UK to participate in EU agencies after leaving the bloc and to ensure future EU laws can be replicated on the UK statute book.

And Ms May faced a further threat on Tuesday night, as cross-party peers are due to push a vote on plans to effectively keep Britain in the single market.

Labour peer Baroness Hayter said stripping the date from the bill would ”remove the straitjacket” and make the task easier for negotiators.

She told peers: “If this amendment is successful, it will remove the straitjacket that the government are in, I have to say not at the behest of negotiators but at the behest of certain ardent Brexiteers.”

The efforts were spearheaded by the Conservative Duke of Wellington, who insisted he was not trying to ”thwart the process” of leaving the EU.

“We know beyond any doubt that for the purposes of this bill we leave the EU on 29 March 2019,” he said.

“But this date should not be defined and specified … in case it becomes necessary and in the national interest to agree an extension as provided in Article 50.”

He added: “We should give ministers a bit more flexibility to secure and obtain ratification of the best possible deal, which will do the least damage to the economy and the national interest.”

Brexit minister Lord Callanan told peers that he saw “no reason” to amend the bill, adding: “I would reiterate that exit day within the bill does not effect our departure from the EU, which is a matter of international law under the Article 50 process.”

There were 14 Tory rebels on EU agencies amendment and 10 on the second, including former deputy prime minister Lord Heseltine and former cabinet minister Lord Patten of Barnes.

The final vote of the day will consider whether to effectively keep the UK in the single market, which is set to expose division in Tory and Labour ranks.

Pro-EU politicians accused the Labour leadership of “cowardice” and adopting a “ridiculous” position by telling peers to abstain on a call for the government to negotiate a Norway-style Brexit within the European Economic Area (EEA).

Tory rebels told The Independent they have enough support to defeat the government if Labour joins them – preventing it from being voted on in the Commons.

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