No-deal Brexit looms closer says MEP after vote drama

A Cambridge-based MEP says the country is on the verge of “crashing out of the European Union” after last night’s crucial votes.

Following the decisions on a series of Brexit amendments in the House of Commons, East of England Euro MP Alex Mayer said: “For all the drama, the key fact remains that we are currently on course to crash out of the European Union on March 29. That would be a disaster for jobs and our standing in the world.”

The raft of amendments put forward by MPs last night (Tuesday, January 29) came after the Prime Minister’s original deal was rejected by Parliament earlier this month.

Among them were plans to delay Brexit to prevent a no deal and a call for the Irish backstop to be replaced by “alternative arrangements”.

Ms Mayer added: “The successful Spelman/Dromey amendment calls for a ‘no deal’ exit to be ruled out, but doesn’t have a means to do so.

“After two years of failed negotiations the Prime Minister is still stubbornly sticking to self-imposed red lines but does not have a credible plan that can command the support of Parliament.

“This is no longer a case of ‘running down the clock’ because it has run down. That is why businesses are triggering their emergency plans, warehouses are filling up with stockpiled products and we hear reports that the government is considering introducing Marshall law in a no-deal Brexit scenario.”

MPs backed the amendment which rejects a no-deal Brexit by 318 to 310 but it is a non-binding vote.

A second amendment put forward by Conservative MP and chair of the 1922 Committee, Graham Brady MP, also gained the support of the government by
16 votes.

It called for “alternative arrangements” to replace the Irish backstop in the Brexit proposal.

On the successful Brady amendment, Ms Mayer said: “I’m deeply worried because this attempt to make the backstop more palatable to Tory MPs, is something that the EU has already ruled out. Negotiations are a two way process.”

South Cambridgeshire MP Heidi Allen was one of 17 Conservatives who rebelled to support an amendment from Labour’s Yvette Cooper which called for Article 50 to be extended until the end of 2019.

Ahead of the vote, Ms Allen tweeted: “My votes tonight will be in the best interests of my constituents and my country.

“I was elected to safeguard their security and economic wellbeing and nothing that falls short of that will do.”

Daniel Zeichner, MP for Cambridge, said that the Government’s decision to give up their agreement with the European Union by demanding ‘alternative arrangements’ to the Northern Ireland backstop is a “descent into a fantasy world that does not exist.

Mr Zeichner said: “The Prime Minister has had to give up her long-negotiated agreement with the European Union, and has caved in to her Conservative hard-liners.”

“The European Union has always been clear that there have to be arrangements that work within Ireland that do not create a hard border, but that also protect the integrity of the European Union. That is an inescapable fact – the alternative arrangements sought by the Brexit fantasists do not exist, so the Prime Minister’s pleas to Brussels will be in vain."

"Theresa May has consistently said that the options are no deal, now rejected by Parliament; her deal, now also torpedoed by Parliament; and no Brexit. It is ever more clear that the only responsible action now is to revoke Article 50.”