The House of Commons will be given the first opportunity to vote for a second referendum today.
The speaker, John Bercow, selected an amemndment from Sarah Wollaston, who recently left the Tories to join the Independent group.
This was not, as you would expect, met with universal approval. The speaker turned down an anti second referendum vote, brought by 111 hardline Brexiteers, mainly from the Conservative party, alongside the DUP and a small number of Labour MPs.
It called on MPs to declare that “the result of the 2016 EU referendum should be respected and that a second EU referendum would be divisive and expensive and therefore should not take place”.
Labour MPs Gareth Snell, Caroline Flint, Denis Skinner, Kate Hoey and John Mann supported the anti second referendum vote.
The People’s Vote campaign put out a statement outlining the feeling of many that today MPs should focus on more time to avoid the UK from crashing out of the EU with no deal by extending Article 50.
The statement said: “People’s Vote campaign does not instruct its supporters in parliament on how to vote. We recognise there is a range of opinions on when to press the case for the public being given the final say, which means some of these MPs will vote for the Wollaston amendment, some may vote against, and some will abstain.
“But we do not think today is the right time to test the will of the house on the case for a new public vote. Instead, this is the time for parliament to declare it wants an extension of article 50 so that, after two-and-a-half years of vexed negotiations, our political leaders can finally decide on what Brexit means.
“That is because a People’s Vote is not just another option in this Brexit crisis – it is a solution to this crisis. When the real costs of Brexit are measured up against the broken promises made for it in 2016, we believe Parliament will have better opportunities to decide it is only fair and reasonable to give the public a real say on this crucial decision for our country.”
In explaining why the Labour Party was not supporting the Second Referendum amendment, Shadow Cahcnellor John McDonnell echoed the point:
The People’s Vote campaign is clear that today is not the day to press the public vote issue in Parliament. It reflects what I have said in various interviews today. Careful judgement has to be exercised at each stage of this process. https://t.co/4GrLTlq9c1
— John McDonnell MP (@johnmcdonnellMP) March 14, 2019
More To follow
https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/brexiteers-are-lobbying-eu-leaders-to-veto-brexit-extension-so-uk-crashes-out-with-no-deal/13/03/