Parliament will have 2019 vote on final Brexit deal, Davis offers
Brexit minister David Davis has confirmed that the final deal to exit from the European Union will form a separate piece of legislation that must be debated by both houses of Parliament before the final divorce date.
However, despite making the major concession a day ahead of a mammoth eight-day Brexit debate on the EU withdrawal bill, the government would not yet grant a vote in the event of no deal being agreed.
Davis said once the terms of Britain's exit, including any financial settlements, any transition deal and agreement on citizen rights, have been drawn up with the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, this will have a specific piece of primary legislation that can be debated, amended and voted on by MPs.
Davis, along with Prime Minister Theresa May and most of the Conservative party's cabal of Brexiteers have resisted allowing such a final such Act of Parliament.
However, Davis admitted that if there is no deal agreed before the March 2019 exit date then there will be no withdrawal agreement bill and therefore nothing for MPs to vote.
As one of the 400 amendments tabled for the EU withdrawal bill, Tory former attorney general Dominic Grieve has called for such a "meaningful vote" to be included in statute.
Tom Brake MP, Brexit spokesman for the Liberal Democrats said: "A parliamentary vote simply isn’t good enough. The people voted to leave the EU, they should get to decide whether to accept the deal the government has negotiated.
"If they reject the government’s Brexit deal, they must have the option to stay in the EU."
Labour's Chuka Umunna said on Twitter that Davis' concession was "totally insufficient: he gave no guarantee of a meaningful vote before 29 March 2019 and this doesn't cover the event of there being no deal".
"Clearly this is an attempt to see off amendments that go much further than David Davis on a 'meaningful vote' - it is vital the EU Withdrawal Bill is amended to provide for a proper not a fake meaningful vote before any exit day," he added.
Davis claims that by announcing the bill, the government was "providing clarity and certainty - both in the negotiations and at home - about the final agreement being put into UK law"... "to ensure a smooth, and orderly exit from the EU that is effectively scrutinised by Parliament".
On Tuesday and Wednesday, MPs will begin to scrutinise and attempt to amend the withdrawal bill, formerly known as the Great Repeal Bill, which aims to transfer EU law onto the domestic statute books after Britain formally leaves the bloc in March 2019.
This 'committee stage' has up to eight days of debate pencilled, with Tuesday's business including debate about the first clause of the bill, which repeals the European Communities Act 1972
The second reading of the bill, was voted through in September but this line-by-line stage of debate aims to pinpoint any potential problems, with some 400 amendments having been tabled.