Theresa May confirms meaningful vote will take place on the week beginning 14 January
2 min read
MPs will finally vote on Theresa May's Brexit deal on the week beginning 14 January, it has been confirmed.
The Prime Minister delayed putting the vote to MPs last week after realising she was heading for a humiliating defeat, despite MPs being three days into a five-day debate scheduled to precede it.
In a statement to the Commons this afternoon on last week's EU Council meeting, Mrs May confirmed that the debates would re-start on 7 January, with the vote to go ahead the following week.
“I confirm today that we intend to return to the meaningful vote debate in the week commencing 7 January and hold the vote the following week," she said.
“When we have the vote, members will need to reflect carefully on what is in the best interests of our country.
“I know that there are a range of very strongly held personal views on this issue across the House and I respect all of them.
"But expressing our personal views is not what we are here to do. We asked the British people to take this decision. 472 current members of this House voted for the referendum in June 2015, with just 32 voting against and the British people responded by instructing us to leave the European Union."
The intervention comes hours after Downing Street said there are "no plans" to hold a series of non-binding "indicative" votes on potential ways forward if MPs reject Mrs May's Brexit deal.
Meanwhile Jeremy Corbyn pulled out of announcing a planned vote of confidence in the Prime Minister if she had refused to name a date for the meaningful vote.
The Labour leader had been due to say: "If the Prime Minister does not announce the date for the final vote immediately, and with the vote taken promptly, I will table a motion 'that this House has no confidence in the Prime Minister due to her failure to allow the House of Commons to have a meaningful vote straight away on the withdrawal agreement and framework for the future relationship between the UK and the EU."
Following the PM's announcement, a Labour spokesperson said: "The Prime Minister has been forced to bring her botched deal back to Parliament under threat of a motion of no confidence in her. We will not let her cynically run down the clock to create the false choice between her botched deal and no deal."
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
