Tuesday was the moment of truth for the Prime Minister’s Brexit deal, when MPs were given a so-called “meaningful vote” on her withdrawal agreement.
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As I’ve made clear before, I didn’t become an MP to make my constituents poorer and with this in mind I voted against the deal in order to stop the terrible impact it would have on Liverpool and my constituents.
Despite the Brexit deal being this Tory Government’s flagship policy a massive 432 MPs voted to reject the deal that was presented to parliament. It was always unlikely that the majority of MPs would support it, but the scale of the defeat was the largest in modern history.
Since then Theresa May has asked for opposition parties to work with her but it is too little too late. The “red lines” she set for herself at the very beginning of this process mean that any negotiation she undertakes, with Europe or opposition parties, is doomed to failure. Unless she is willing to rule out a no deal Brexit or relax her red lines she will be unable to move forward with her deal.
I fear that Theresa May is happy run down the clock until we leave the EU in March hoping that it will put pressure on MPs to choose her deal rather than face a no deal Brexit. This attempt to force MPs into supporting her will not work.
Labour are now calling for a general election at the earliest opportunity but failing that we must break the parliamentary stalemate by giving the Brexit question back to the people through a “Peoples Vote”.