MPs and Lords will debate and vote on final Brexit Bill BEFORE it goes to European Parliament for approval – but they won’t be able to reject it and ask for more talks
Brexit Minister David Jones confirmed the Government climbdown - that there will be a vote on covering the withdrawal arrangements from the EU, and the future relationship with the bloc
MPS and Lords WILL get a vote on the final Brexit deal - before it goes to the European Parliament for approval.
Brexit Minister David Jones confirmed that MPs will get a vote on both the withdrawal process and a future deal, but if they reject it ministers WON'T go back to the EU for further talks because it would make us look weak.
He said that the Government "expects and intends" to bring forward a vote before it is sent back to the EU for debate.
Mr Jones said: "We intend that the vote will cover not only the withdrawal arrangements but also the future relationship with the European Union."
"The government will bring forward a motion on the final agreement to be approved by both Houses of Parliament before its conclusion.
"We expect and intend that this will happen before the European Parliament debates and votes on the final agreements."
Labour's Sir Keir Starmer hailed news of the vote as a "huge and very important concession".
The Shadow Brexit Secretary said: "The vote must cover both the Article 50 deal and any other future relationship, and that must take place before the deal is concluded.
"The great fear was that there would be a concluded deal which would make any vote in this House meaningless."
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But Mr Jones said that if MPs don't vote in favour of the deal, they won't be going back to Europe to negotiate.
He said the Prime Minister has "made clear if we cannot get an agreement we will fall back on other arrangements".
The Brexit minister said: "There will be a meaningful vote - the vote will be either to accept the deal the Government will have achieved....or no deal and, frankly, that is the choice this House will have to make.
"That will be the most meaningful vote that one can imagine."
He added: "I can't think of a greater signal of weakness than for this House to send the Government back to the EU and say we want to negotiate further."
The news came at the start of a second marathon day of debate in the Commons during the committee stage of the Brexit Bill.
MPs are set to vote again later today on a number of amendments to the Bill.
Yesterday the Prime Minister warned Tory rebels not to delay the process of exiting the EU - and get on with the process of triggering Article 50.
But Conservative MP John Redwood said some of the amendments were "dangerous" and warned that the EU could offer up a poor deal to try and get MPs to reject it.
He said that reversing Article 50 would NOT be possible and the Government had to "respect the wishes" of the people and leave the EU - even if the deal with the bloc was bad.
But Remainer Tim Farron tried to convince MPs to back another referendum on the terms of a Brexit deal - with the possibility of rejecting it and Remaining in the EU.
He said: "Our vision... is that we would accept the terms that the Government had negotiated, or we would remain in the European Union."
Former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg asked today what would happen if a deal was not reached on a future EU-UK relationship.
But Mr Jones said the Government did not expect that to happen.
Labour's Chuka Umunna said that MPs should be able to send the Government back to the EU to negotiate a deal if one wasn't reached.
He said that falling back on World Trade Organisation rules when leaving the EU would be "deeply damaging and wholly unacceptable."