Boris Johnson news - live: Brexit bill ‘paused’ after MPs vote for it but kill off plan for Halloween exit

Follow all the latest developments as they happened

Boris Johnson says the withdrawal agreement bill will be pulled and he will call a general election if the government loses the programme motion

MPs have voted in favour of a Brexit withdrawal bill for the first time – but killed off Boris Johnson’s proposal to ram it through Parliament, thereby derailing his plan to leave by Halloween.

The Commons voted by 329 votes to 299 – a majority of 30 – to approve the prime minister’s Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB) in principle, six months after killing off Theresa May’s equivalent version.

However, the PM then lost a vote on his proposed timetable, which stipulated the bill would have to clear all its Commons stages by the end of Thursday in order to fulful his "do or die" pledge to exit the EU at the end of the month, by a margin of 322 to 308.

Mr Johnson then announced the legislation would be "paused", meaning that the EU will now have to grant an extension to Brexit in order to avoid the UK crashing out with no deal in nine days' time.

Key Points

• PM will pull Brexit bill if government loses timetable vote
• MPs attack 'abomination' of three-day timetable
• Labour MPs will table amendment on Final Say public vote
• Cross-party group tables customs union amendment
• Tusk says EU should treat extension request 'in all seriousness'
• Corbyn offers PM 'reasonable timetable' for bill
• Tusk to recommend EU member states approve Brexit delay

[22 October 2019 20:02 · Chiara.Giordano]

Downing Street says Boris Johnson continues to believe the UK should leave the EU on 31 October and that an extension beyond this month would be "corrosive".

The prime minister's official spokesman said: "Where we are now as a result of the actions of Parliament is that the EU will have to consider the request from Parliament that was conveyed to it at the weekend."

Number 10 could not say how long it would take for the EU to respond.

[22 October 2019 20:10 · Chiara.Giordano]

The division list for the programme motion showed just five Labour MPs rebelled to support it.

They were joined by 285 Tory MPs and 18 Independents in supporting the motion.

The list showed 233 Labour MPs opposed the motion along with 35 SNP, 19 Lib Dems, 10 DUP, four Plaid Cymru, Green Party MP Caroline Lucas, five Independent Group for Change, and 15 Independents.

[22 October 2019 20:11 · Chiara.Giordano]

The five Labour MPs who rebelled to support the programme motion were:

Kevin Barron (Rother Valley)

Jim Fitzpatrick (Poplar and Limehouse)

Caroline Flint (Don Valley)

Kate Hoey (Vauxhall)

John Mann (Bassetlaw).

[22 October 2019 20:24 · Chiara.Giordano]

Speaker John Bercow says the Withdrawal Agreement Bill is now "in limbo".

He told MPs: "Just in case there is any doubt, the technical term for the status of the Bill at present is that the Bill is in Limbo".

Quoting Erskine May, a guide to parliamentary practice, he said: "Any motion to enable the Bill to proceed to committee stage or beyond requires notice."

[22 October 2019 20:44 · Chiara.Giordano]

Some reaction from Irish taoiseach Leo Varadkar: "It's welcome that the House of Commons voted by a clear majority in favour of legislation needed to enact Withdrawal Agreement.

“We will now await further developments from London and Brussels about next steps including timetable for the legislation and the need for an extension."

[22 October 2019 21:01 · Chiara.Giordano]

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage says we will not be leaving the EU on 31 October.

He tweeted: "Do or die is over, we have now moved on to dying in a ditch.

“We will not be leaving the EU on 31 October."

[22 October 2019 21:17 · Chiara.Giordano]

Jo Swinson, leader of the Liberal Democrats, says Remainers will have noticed the 19 Labour MPs who voted for the prime minister’s Brexit deal.

She tweeted: “Parliament have rejected the Govt attempts to ram through the Brexit Bill.

“The PM must now seek an extension for Article 50.

“But Remainers will notice that 19 Labour MPs voted for the PM's bad Brexit deal.”

[22 October 2019 21:32 · Chris Stevenson]

Here is analysis of the two votes from The Independent's John Rentoul, His view? The UK is likely to be out of the EU by Christmas.

[22 October 2019 21:48 · Chris Stevenson]

As for our campaign to give voters a Final Say on the Brexit deal, more than 300,000 have now signed a letter demanding a new referendum.

[22 October 2019 22:03 · Chris Stevenson]

Former Chancellor, and current editor of the Evening Standard, clearly enjoyed that result for the government.

“Last time a government lost a programme motion was, I believe, on our House of Lords Reform Bill in 2012. The person who led the rebellion was Jacob Rees-Mogg. Funny in politics how what goes around comes around”.