View all newsletters
Sign up to our newsletters

Support 110 years of independent journalism.

  1. Politics
  2. Brexit
4 December 2018

Dominic Grieve’s Brexit amendment gives control back to MPs – but what will they do with it?

The Commons has won the right to dictate the government's course of action once the Brexit deal is voted down. 

By Patrick Maguire

Have MPs taken back control of Brexit? That’s the conclusion many have reached this evening after an amendment by Tory MP Dominic Grieve gave the Commons the right to dictate the plan ministers will pursue once the Brexit deal is voted down. 

With the support of Labour and dozens of his Conservative colleagues, Grieve succeeded in changing the wording of the parliamentary motion dictating the procedure for next Tuesday’s meaningful vote so that MPs would be able to amend the back-up plan that ministers must bring before parliament within 21 days of losing the first meaningful vote.

It was the second significant procedural defeat suffered by the government in the space of an hour, with rebels including erstwhile May loyalists Damian Green and Michael Fallon, as well as Nick Boles, the former minister corralling colleagues to support a Norway-style Brexit as a fallback option once May’s deal fails. 

Rebels believe it will give MPs the power to prevent a no-deal Brexit and impose an alternative course of action – such as Boles’s Norway option or a permanent customs union – on the government. Tory Brexiteers have played down its significance, insisting nothing MPs would vote for in such a scenario would bind the government to do anything. 

Who is right? The truthful answer is neither. Though the success of Grieve’s amendment does narrow the odds of a no-deal Brexit, it remains the only legal certainty in the absence of another agreed solution between the UK and EU – of which there is no guarantee even if parliament does assert its will for an alternative. And while it is also true that there will be no legal force to a demand for, say, EEA membership or a new referendum by MPs, the government will find it difficult to ignore.

Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. The best way to sign up for The Saturday Read is via saturdayread.substack.com The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com Our Thursday ideas newsletter, delving into philosophy, criticism, and intellectual history. The best way to sign up for The Salvo is via thesalvo.substack.com Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates. Weekly analysis of the shift to a new economy from the New Statesman's Spotlight on Policy team. The best way to sign up for The Green Transition is via spotlightonpolicy.substack.com
  • Administration / Office
  • Arts and Culture
  • Board Member
  • Business / Corporate Services
  • Client / Customer Services
  • Communications
  • Construction, Works, Engineering
  • Education, Curriculum and Teaching
  • Environment, Conservation and NRM
  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
  • Finance Management
  • Health - Medical and Nursing Management
  • HR, Training and Organisational Development
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives
  • Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities
  • Legal Officers and Practitioners
  • Librarians and Library Management
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • OH&S, Risk Management
  • Operations Management
  • Planning, Policy, Strategy
  • Printing, Design, Publishing, Web
  • Projects, Programs and Advisors
  • Property, Assets and Fleet Management
  • Public Relations and Media
  • Purchasing and Procurement
  • Quality Management
  • Science and Technical Research and Development
  • Security and Law Enforcement
  • Service Delivery
  • Sport and Recreation
  • Travel, Accommodation, Tourism
  • Wellbeing, Community / Social Services
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
THANK YOU

Some Tories believe that truth – that MPs now have recourse to make demands with significant political, if not legal, force once the deal is defeated – could induce more moderate Brexiteers on the backbenches to swing behind the withdrawal agreement and the prime minister next Tuesday for fear of handing control of the process to the latent cross-party majority in favour of softening Brexit or handing the decision back to the electorate with a view to stopping it entirely.

For most Brexiteers, however, the immediate imperative has not changed: the Withdrawal Agreement must be killed off for good and the only cast-iron process in all of this – the Article 50 clock – remains on their side. It has also given those MPs whose stated aim is avoiding no-deal a further disincentive to compromise.

Content from our partners
Development finance reform: the key to climate action
Individually rare, collectively common – how do we transform the lives of people with rare diseases?
Future proofing the NHS

Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. The best way to sign up for The Saturday Read is via saturdayread.substack.com The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com Our Thursday ideas newsletter, delving into philosophy, criticism, and intellectual history. The best way to sign up for The Salvo is via thesalvo.substack.com Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates. Weekly analysis of the shift to a new economy from the New Statesman's Spotlight on Policy team. The best way to sign up for The Green Transition is via spotlightonpolicy.substack.com
  • Administration / Office
  • Arts and Culture
  • Board Member
  • Business / Corporate Services
  • Client / Customer Services
  • Communications
  • Construction, Works, Engineering
  • Education, Curriculum and Teaching
  • Environment, Conservation and NRM
  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
  • Finance Management
  • Health - Medical and Nursing Management
  • HR, Training and Organisational Development
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives
  • Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities
  • Legal Officers and Practitioners
  • Librarians and Library Management
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • OH&S, Risk Management
  • Operations Management
  • Planning, Policy, Strategy
  • Printing, Design, Publishing, Web
  • Projects, Programs and Advisors
  • Property, Assets and Fleet Management
  • Public Relations and Media
  • Purchasing and Procurement
  • Quality Management
  • Science and Technical Research and Development
  • Security and Law Enforcement
  • Service Delivery
  • Sport and Recreation
  • Travel, Accommodation, Tourism
  • Wellbeing, Community / Social Services
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
THANK YOU