PM offers vote on delaying Brexit beyond March 29 if her plan is rejected

Prime Minister Theresa May has promised to give MPs a vote on extending Brexit negotiations or withdrawing from the EU without a deal if her plan is rejected next month.

In a dramatic statement to the House of Commons, Mrs May confirmed that she will put her Withdrawal Agreement – including whatever additional assurances she has secured from Brussels – to a “meaningful vote” by March 12.

If that fails, MPs will be offered two separate votes on the following days – one on a no-deal Brexit and, if that is defeated, the other on requesting an extension to the two-year Article 50 negotiation process to delay EU withdrawal beyond March 29.

The sequence of votes will be proposed in an amendable motion tabled by the Prime Minister for debate and vote in the Commons on Wednesday.

To uproar in the Commons, Mrs May told MPs: “They are commitments I am making as Prime Minister and I will stick by them, as I have previous commitments to make statements and table amendable motions by specific dates.”

But she added: “Let me be clear, I do not want to see Article 50 extended. Our absolute focus should be on working to get a deal and leaving on March 29.”

In a statement to MPs following a Cabinet meeting with senior colleagues at 10 Downing Street, Theresa May said she wanted to set out “three further commitments” to the Commons.

She said: “First, we will hold a second meaningful vote by Tuesday March 12 at the latest.

“Second, if the Government has not won a meaningful vote by Tuesday March 12, then it will – in addition to its obligations to table a neutral amendable motion under Section 13 of the EU Withdrawal Act – table a motion to be voted on by Wednesday March 13 at the latest, asking this House if it supports leaving the EU without a Withdrawal Agreement and a framework for a future relationship on March 29.

“So the United Kingdom will only leave without a deal on March 29 if there is explicit consent in the House for that outcome.

“Third, if the House, having rejected the deal negotiated with the EU, then rejects leaving on March 29 without a Withdrawal Agreement and future framework, the Government will on March 14 bring forward a motion on whether Parliament wants to seek a short, limited extension to Article 50.”

If MPs vote for an extension, the Government will “seek to agree that extension approved by the House with the EU, and bring forward the necessary legislation to change the exit date commensurate with that extension”, said Mrs May.

The Prime Minister said that an extension of Article 50 beyond the end of June would require the UK to take part in European Parliament elections in May and that a shorter extension would “almost certainly have to be a one-off”.

“An extension cannot take no-deal off the table,” she warned. “The only way to do that is to revoke Article 50, which I shall not do, or agree a deal.”

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said that Mrs May appeared to be adopting the terms of a cross-party amendment put forward by Yvette Cooper and Sir Oliver Letwin designed to prevent no-deal if her Withdrawal Agreement is voted down on March 12.

But he told MPs: “Until the Prime Minister is clear what alternative she would put forward in that circumstance, then she is continuing to run down the clock.

“She promises a short extension but for what?”

Mr Corbyn confirmed that Labour will table an amendment to the Government’s motion calling for a deal based on its priorities of a customs union, close alignment with the single market and matching EU workplace and environmental rights.

“If the Government wants a genuine renegotiation it should do so on terms that can win a majority of this House, on terms backed by businesses and unions and that are contained within Labour’s amendment, which I urge the whole House to back tomorrow,” he said.

The Prime Minister hit out at Mr Corbyn over Labour’s support for a second referendum.

“He has gone back on his promise to respect the referendum result and now wants to hold a divisive second referendum that would take our country right back to square one,” she said.

“Anyone who voted Labour at the last election because they thought he would deliver Brexit will rightly be appalled.”