Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour in chaos as TWO MORE resign from his front bench and are set to vote against triggering Article 50 tonight
LABOUR is in chaos this evening as two more of the shadow front bench team chose to defy Jeremy Corbyn's orders to vote for the Government's Brexit Bill.
Dawn Butler and Rachael Maskell have said they will vote AGAINST triggering Article 50 this evening, and will have to resign from Mr Corbyn's team.
The news comes days after shadow ministers Jo Stevens and Tulip Siddiq also quit their posts so they could vote against the Bill.
As scores of other MPs will join them in rejecting Brexit tonight, Mr Corbyn said he understood the "difficulties" that MPs in Remain-backing constituencies faced.
He said: "It is right that the Labour Party respects the outcome of the referendum on leaving the European Union. We have said all along that Labour will not frustrate the triggering of Article 50 and to that end we are asking all MPs to vote for the Bill at its second reading tonight."
Ms Maskell, the Shadow Environment Secretary, said she would be voting in line with the "strong remain vote" from her constituents last June.
In a statement on her website today she wrote: "The UK is no longer being offered a ‘people’s Brexit’ but a ‘Theresa May Brexit’, which goes far beyond just leaving the European Union, as voted on at the referendum last June."
She went on: "I believe that Theresa May’s Brexit ‘plan’ is creating an unjustifiable level of risk at a time of national and international uncertainty and volatility, with silence on national security measures, no mention of climate change mitigation or environmental protections, and no guarantee of good jobs or employment rights."
More than 100 MPs from all sides of the House are set to vote against triggering Article 50 this evening.
Yesterday the Brexit Secretary introduced the legislation by stressing the Government's determination to trigger Article 50 by the end of March, starting the formal two-year countdown to leaving the EU.
But David Davis warned MPs they would not be able to vote to block Brexit, telling them the "point of no return" had already passed.
Following the vote for Brexit in last June's referendum, Mr Davis said the only question now before Parliament was: "Do we trust the people or not?"
What happens next with the Brexit Bill?
MPs are set to vote on the Brexit Bill this evening, after two days of debates in the House of Commons on the legislation and five possible amendments:
- There are three separate votes – firstly on an amendment tabled by the SNP, which is likely to fail
- The second – which is likely to pass – is on the bill itself, and the third vote is on the timetable for the bill going forward
- If the bill passes tonight, there will be a committee stage next Monday, with three more days of debates, and more votes on amendments
- This is where the Government could come unstuck, with Labour and Tory rebels planning to gang up and demand Theresa May gives Parliament the final say on whether to walk out of Brexit negotiations with no deal
- But if the bill passes at this stage, it will be followed by the third reading of the bill on Wednesday, which will complete its passage through the Commons by February 8
- It then passes through to the House of Lords, where the Government does not have a majority, for scrutiny on Monday February 20.
- It will undergo a committee stage, where the Government is set to face numerous attempts to amend the legislation on Monday, February 27 and Wednesday, March 1
- If peers successfully pass any amendments it will be sent back to the Commons for another vote, in a process known as "ping-pong", which could potentially delay it being passed
- The Government's timetable says it is expected to complete its passage through the Lords by Tuesday, March 7, and will then receive the Queen's approval, known as royal assent - and become an Act of Parliament
- If this is successful it would allow Theresa May to then trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty at a European Council meeting in Brussels later that week, three weeks before her self-imposed deadline of March 31