Brexit White Paper: Government publishes Theresa May's plan - as it happened
The Government sets out its plans for Brexit in a document before Parliament
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Your support makes all the difference.The Government has set out Theresa May's plans for Brexit before Parliament, in a document known as a White Paper. Here are the latest updates.
- Government publishes White Paper as David Davis gives statement to the Commons
- Davis says White Paper means UK is 'definitely leaving' the EU customs union
- EU nationals in UK will only have rights protected if similar promise is made for Britons on continent
- Government wants 'practical solution' to land border between NI and Ireland
- UK to seek to continue science and research programmes with EU countries
- White Paper is based on 12 principles set out in PM's speech on Brexit last month
- Labour says it is "totally unacceptable" White Paper was only published as Davis got up to speak
- SNP says Government's actions prevent parliamentary scrutiny and show "astonishing disrespect" to MPs
- MPs ask questions on White Paper before going away to scrutinise it in detail
- Last night, Commons voted overwhelmingly to grant May power to trigger Brexit
- But a rebel Tory MP tells The Independent they will not give PM a 'blank cheque'
- Minister says May has given up on 'cherry-picking' an EU customs union deal
- Major rebellion over Brexit vote stings Labour
- Two shadow Cabinet members are forced to quit
MPs will spend Thursday poring over a Government White Paper setting out its Brexit strategy as the next battlegrounds in the debate over quitting the EU begin to emerge.
They will also be studying a vast list of amendments from MPs of all sides to legislation which paves the way for Theresa May to trigger Article 50 of the EU treaties to begin Brexit.
Brexit Secretary David Davis presented the White Paper to MPs in an oral statement after 12.30pm on Thursday.
The European Union (Notification Of Withdrawal) Bill was overwhelmingly backed by a majority of 384 MPs at its second reading on Wednesday.
However the major Commons skirmishes are expected during next week's committee stage.
Hundreds of amendments have already been tabled for debate and votes between Monday and Wednesday and the objectives set out in the White Paper are sure to inspire more.
Downing Street said the White Paper would "reflect the Government's plan for Brexit as the PM set out in her speech on our negotiating objectives".
The paper has been produced too late in the day, Starmer says, for meaningful questions now in Commons. "That is completely unacceptable," he says.
Parliament cannot have a "meaningful role" in the Brexit process because of the conduct of the Government, he says.
Starmer says Government's conduct is "demeaning of this count".
He says that after a brief perusal of the White Paper, there is nothing that protects the rights of EU nationals already in the UK. That is the most important thing Labour has called for, he says, and not delivered.
Davis says what matters "above all else" are the terms of the deal the UK can get with the EU.
Davis says he wants to see EU nationals have "all the rights they currently have", but he also wants to see rights of Britons abroad protected.
He says the Government "will protect both", but offers no commitment to do so right now.
The White Paper is 77 pages long. It is structured as a list of May's previously-declared 12 principles - but they now represent chapters, with more detail provided under each subheading.
As a reminder - these are the 12 points May set out last month.
The SNP says the Government had seven months to put the White Paper together, yet the Commons only got it "now, a minute before Davis got up to speak".
Stephen Gethins says the Government's conduct today shows "astonishing disrespect to Parliament", which Davis himself would not have put up with when he was himself a back-bencher.
He criticises, as others have recently, the fact that the White Paper has been released one day after the Commons voted on the Second Reading of the Article 50 bill.
The White Paper commits the UK to leaving the EU Customs Union in paragraph 8.43, says Labour's Helen Goodman.
This will devastate the UK's economy, she says, and yet the document contains no risk assessment on this point.
She asks how the Commons can have a meaningful role in the Brexit process when such major decisions are set out from the start.
Davis says there has been "considerable analysis" of the customs union point.
He says the White Paper emphasises that we "should succeed" in getting a good customs deal with the EU as long as a new trade deal can be reached.
In answer to a follow-up question from Sir Edward Leigh, Davis clarifies that the White Paper does indeed commit the UK to leaving the customs union.
This sentence from the document, Davis says, amounts to the "same thing" as saying Britain is leaving the customs union: "We will not be bound by the EU’s Common External Tariff or participate in the Common Commercial Policy."
More quotes from the Commons on the point of leaving the customs union.
Sir Edward Leigh: “On page 49 the Government says “we have an open mind on how we implement new customs arrangements with the EU".
“Just for the avoidance of doubt, will the Secretary of State confirm today we are not only leaving the single market and the EU, we are definitely leaving the customs union?"
Davis: “If he continues to read that page, it confirms that we 'will not be bound by the EU’s Common External Tariff or participate in the Common Commercial Policy', which amounts to exactly that, what he said.”
May's foreword to the White Paper was made up of extracts from her Lancaster House speech, in which she said that forging a new partnership with Europe and a "stronger, fairer, more global" Britain would be "the legacy of our time, the prize towards which we work, the destination at which we arrive once the negotiation is done".
In a preface to the document, Mr Davis said that Britain entered the negotiations which the Government intends to trigger by the end of March in "a position of strength".
Stressing that the UK "wants the EU to succeed", he urged the remaining 27 member states and European institutions to be guided in the upcoming negotiations by "the principles set out in the EU Treaties concerning a high degree of international co-operation and good neighbourliness".
Mr Davis said the Government would not publish details of its plans that would undermine Britain's negotiating position, but promised "extensive engagement with Parliament" and a "high degree of public engagement" as the process went forward.
"This document sets out our plan for the strong new partnership we want to build with the EU," he said.
"Whatever the outcome of our negotiations, we will seek a more open, outward-looking, confident and fairer UK, which works for all."
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