Brexit news: MPs submit indicative vote plans as government rejects 'Revoke Article 50' petition
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MPs are gearing up for a series of votes on different Brexit scenarios after dramatically wresting control of the EU exit process from the government.
Different Brexit factions must put forward their preferred options by the end of the day for “indicative votes” on Wednesday, including bids for a Norway-style deal and a second referendum.
The move could pave the way for a softer Brexit, prompting infighting among Eurosceptic hardliners over whether to back Theresa May‘s deal instead.
On Tuesday, the prime minister’s Brexit strategy was left in disarray and her leadership under threat after three of her ministers resigned and MPs dramatically voted to take control of the process.
Her authority was left in tatters after 30 members of her party defied her instructions and voted for the move. Three government resigned in order to vote against the prime minister.
It comes as the government rejected a petition with more than 5.78 million signatures calling for Brexit to be halted by revoking article 50.
In an official response posted on the parliamentary petitions website, the Department for Exiting the EU (DExEU) said: “This government will not revoke Article 50.
“We will honour the result of the 2016 referendum and work with parliament to deliver a deal that ensures we leave the European Union.”
The petition will still be debated by MPs in the Commons’s secondary chamber Westminster Hall on 1 April.
A government minister will be required to respond to the petition, but there will be no vote on the action it demands.
Follow our coverage of how the day unfolded
Ex-foreign office minister Alistair Burt has posted his resignation letter, after quitting the government last night to back the indicative votes amendment.
He says he will continue to vote for her Brexit deal but he could not stand by while some colleagues pursued a no-deal exit. He said he was "immensely frustrated and disappointed" by hardliners who refused to back the PM.
DUP's Sammy Wilson has dealt a blow to the PM's Brexit hopes, saying they would prefer a year-long extension to backing May's deal.
Writing in the Telegraph, he said: "There are some colleagues who I admire greatly and who have stood firmly with us in defending Northern Ireland who now take the view that the Withdrawal Agreement, even though it is a rotten deal, is better than losing Brexit.
"To them I say that, if the deal goes through, we have lost our right to leave the EU. If we sign up to it, we give away our right to leave to the whim and dictates of the EU. That is not Brexit."
Nadhim Zahawi, the minister for children, has suggested that Conservative MPs will not have to follow the party whip during tomorrow's indicative votes on Brexit. Asked if it should be a free vote, he told the BBC:
"I suspect it must be because if the will of Parliament is to have free votes, indicative votes, then that will be it.
"But, I wait to see what the details are and how we vote on the different options."
Irish taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said Ireland will hold the UK to its commitment to maintain the free movement of people and goods between the two countries after Brexit, telling the Irish parliament:
"We will hold the UK Government to its existing commitments - its commitments in the Good Friday Agreement to ensure free movement of people and free trade north and south, its commitments made in 2017 to maintain full regulatory alignment."
Theresa May "lacks basic human skills to be a political leader", a prominent MEP has claimed
Delaying Brexit by a year is preferable to Theresa May's "toxic" withdrawal agreement, according to a senior figure in the Democratic Unionist Party.
Referring to the twice-rejected UK-EU agreement as a "prison" for the UK, Sammy Wilson, the Brexit spokesman for the DUP, reiterated that his party will not vote for an "unamended, or unchanged version".
It will come as another blow to the prime minister, who is this week considering bringing her deal to MPs for a third time, if Britain is to leave the EU by 22 May.
Read more here.
Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, has tweeted his regret at Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt resigning from the government - but spelled his name wrong, and mistakenly tagged someone called Alastair Burt - before hastily deleting the tweet and replacing with a correct version...
NEW: Here's how tomorrow's indicative votes will work, according to the business motion drawn up by senior backbenchers. It's been tweeted by Hilary Benn, the chair of the Commons Brexit committee.
In short, MPs will debate Brexit until 7pm, at which point they will vote for half an hour using paper ballots. They will be allowed to vote for or against whichever proposals are put forward. The results will be announced by John Bercow later in the evening.
Tory MP Daniel Kawczynski, a member of the European Research Group, said a "trickle" of ERG members supporting the PM's deal on Tuesday has become a "flow".
"I addressed the ERG last night, as did some of my other fellow Tory MPs, and we basically said to them the time has come now to back the PM's deal," he said.
"The PM's deal turns out to be the least worst option out of all the options which parliament are now putting forward.
"We were very concerned about aspects of it but frankly it's a dream compared to a full blown customs union, another referendum or a single market agreement with the European Union that doesn't fulfil what our constituents voted for.
"I think when we debated this issue last night, it was six of one and half a dozen of the other when it came to the speakers, both for and against.
"There is definitely a palpable shift. It was a trickle, now it's a flow.
"We Brexiteers are playing with fire, and we could get very, very burnt if this deal doesn't get through."
Young people who are vulnerable to knife crime could "get fitter" so they can protect themselves from violence, a Conservative MP has claimed.
Veteran backbencher Sir Christopher Chope suggested teenagers could learn martial arts such as judo or Taekwando to help them avoid becoming victims of knife violence and to dissuade them from carrying weapons.
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