Brexit: Government plans to hold new vote

  • 2019-03-29 02:15:21
MPs will vote again on Brexit on Friday but it is not clear whether it will be another "meaningful vote" on the PM's withdrawal deal. Asked whether the motion would be the "full package", Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom said discussion was "ongoing". There is speculation that MPs might be asked to vote on the withdrawal agreement but not the further "political declaration". Labour said that would lead to the "blindest of blind Brexits". The PM's deal includes a withdrawal agreement - setting out how much money the UK must pay to the EU as a settlement, details of the transition period, and the backstop arrangements - and a political declaration on the way the future EU-UK relationship will work. Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer said both European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker had stressed that the withdrawal agreement and political declaration were part of the same "negotiated package". He said to separate them "would mean leaving the EU with absolutely no idea where we are heading ... we wouldn't vote for that". Previous "meaningful votes" on the deal involved both the withdrawal agreement and the political declaration but Speaker John Bercow has said he would not allow a third "meaningful vote" on "substantially the same" motion as MPs had already rejected by historic margins twice. AFP.

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