Last week we had the aftermath of the Supreme Court ruling on Article 50 (A50). The government published the half a page Brexit bill as members of the other parties began to put together their suggested amendments. In fact, there were a total of 60 amendments suggested, all of which can be found here. They range from a clause that if we reach no deal a deal shall be made based on the continuation of the current relationship, to one suggesting that A50 cannot be invoked until the government has determined what needs to be done about A127 and our membership of the EEA.
The bill itself will go to its second reading starting tomorrow and concluding on Wednesday, where MPs will debate the bill and 5 "reasoned" amendments as chosen by the speaker. The bill then goes onto the committee stage on Tuesday 7th February to conclude on the 8th. Other stages will follow in February, after which the bill goes to the House of Lords. The whole process is outlined here.
Much of the focus fell on Labour's muddled response and Jeremy Corbyn's three-line-whip on Labour MPs voting in favour of A50. Tulip Siddiq has already resigned from the Labour front bench in response, with 18 MPs ready to defy their leader and vote against A50 (regularly updated list here). To add to the confusion, Dianne Abbot has now said that the party may review its position if the amendments are shelved.
Nick Clegg continues with his push for a Norway style solution after releasing a discussion paper on alternatives to hard Brexit not long ago. Frustratingly, Clegg claimed last week that behind closed doors Germany was ready to offer us an EEA/EFTA deal with changes to freedom of movement stronger than that of Cameron's emergency brake, which is exactly the solution I and many others were advocating long before the referendum. Apparently, "they were ready to make precisely that concession". Something feels very off about this, but if true it would have been really useful information about 7-8 months ago, Nick. Alas, it looks increasingly like the chance to revive the Norway solution has gone.
In other related news, the petition to stop a Trump State visit sits at over 1.3 million signatures at the time of writing. Meanwhile, we really could do with that UK-US trade deal.
alex.davies@gmchamber.co.uk
@GMCC_Alex
The bill itself will go to its second reading starting tomorrow and concluding on Wednesday, where MPs will debate the bill and 5 "reasoned" amendments as chosen by the speaker. The bill then goes onto the committee stage on Tuesday 7th February to conclude on the 8th. Other stages will follow in February, after which the bill goes to the House of Lords. The whole process is outlined here.
Much of the focus fell on Labour's muddled response and Jeremy Corbyn's three-line-whip on Labour MPs voting in favour of A50. Tulip Siddiq has already resigned from the Labour front bench in response, with 18 MPs ready to defy their leader and vote against A50 (regularly updated list here). To add to the confusion, Dianne Abbot has now said that the party may review its position if the amendments are shelved.
Nick Clegg continues with his push for a Norway style solution after releasing a discussion paper on alternatives to hard Brexit not long ago. Frustratingly, Clegg claimed last week that behind closed doors Germany was ready to offer us an EEA/EFTA deal with changes to freedom of movement stronger than that of Cameron's emergency brake, which is exactly the solution I and many others were advocating long before the referendum. Apparently, "they were ready to make precisely that concession". Something feels very off about this, but if true it would have been really useful information about 7-8 months ago, Nick. Alas, it looks increasingly like the chance to revive the Norway solution has gone.
In other related news, the petition to stop a Trump State visit sits at over 1.3 million signatures at the time of writing. Meanwhile, we really could do with that UK-US trade deal.
alex.davies@gmchamber.co.uk
@GMCC_Alex
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