Brexit vote - as it happened: Theresa May caves in to Tory rebels in major negotiations climbdown
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Your support makes all the difference.Theresa May has caved in to Tory rebels in an eleventh-hour climbdown on the government’s flagship Brexit legislation.
In a key victory for pro-EU backbenchers, the government opened the door to MPs taking control of the negotiations if ministers fail to strike a deal in Brussels.
The revolt appeared to be called off only after Robert Buckland, the solicitor general, agreed that there was "merit" in plans to allow MPs to vote on the proposed Brexit strategy and said his would be the basis of further discussions with rebels.
The rebels want MPs to be given a vote on the next steps if there is no deal by the end of November. It is unclear whether ministers will agree to that time limit, which is likely to be proposed in a further amendment to be tabled in the House of Lords.
Nevertheless, for the first time, the prime minister appeared to be entertaining the idea of a deadline for success in the talks.
In total, the government hopes to overturn 14 amendments made in the Lords to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill during two days of debate but it faces threats of a Tory rebellion on a series of knife-edge votes.
He starts by talking about amendments to the sifting committee, which will scrutinise secondary legislation. The MPs on the committee will decide on which bits of secondary legislation get voted on in parliament. Davis says that will make life too difficult for ministers.
Another key issue is "exit day", as peers voted to put the official Brexit day on the front of the bill. Davis says the Commons has already discussed this in detail and come to a "sensible decision" and so the government will not accept the amendment.
Davis moves onto a string of Lords amendments seeking to curb so-called Henry VIII powers, which allow the government to push through legislation without full parliamentary scrutiny.
He says the government has made further amendments and safeguards to the powers and the changes are not necessary.
Tory rebel Ken Clarke intervenes, saying the government cannot have powers to change legislation "entirely at the ministers' uncontrolled discretion".
Davis calls Clarke an "old friend" and says they are capable of having a two-hour dinner without talking about Brexit. He draws laughs from MPs when he says Clarke paid.
Davis is now talking about the key issue - the meaningful vote, also known as the Hailsham amendment.
This looks like it might be the crunch issue today, as it is unclear still how Tory rebels will vote.
Davis says this is a veiled attempt to reverse the result of the referendum, which the government cannot allow.
He lets Frank Field intervene and asks the Labour MP, who is wearing a sling, whether the whips' office was responsible for his injury.
Field, who is a rare Leave supporter on the Labour benches, says the Lords amendment would send the government "naked into the negotiations".
Potential Tory rebel Stephen Hammond asks what would happen in the even of a no-deal Brexit.
Davis says if there was no deal then the government would come back to the house and make a statement, giving the House a chance to response.
Rebel leader Dominic Grieve says the government has made no preparation for a no-deal Brexit. He says his amendment gives it the tools to do that. He says the bill will not finish its course if it does not have this.
Note - Grieve's decision on how to vote could prove vital later.
Speaking for Labour, shadow Brexit minister Matt Pennycook says the Lords' amendment on the meaningful vote "is not about overturning the referendum result - it's about giving Parliament a say under one scenario that could well occur".
He says the amendment would ensure that, if Parliament rejects the Brexit deal, it will not become "simply a passive spectator to what happens next, but instead secure a decisive role in shaping how the executive then proceeds".
Matt Pennycook says if Parliament did reject the final Brexit deal, it would be a "catastrophic failure of the government's Brexit policy and its handling of the negotiations".
In such a situation, he says, it would not be enough for MPs' role to simply be to listen to a government statement.
But Labour Brexiteer John Mann says Labour Leave voters in the Midlands and the north "do not wish to see the negotiation carried out by 650 Members of Parliament - they want to see Brexit got on with". He asks how to explain that an unelected House of Lords is able to overrule the elected Commons: "How will Labour voters be explained that?"
Three Labour MPs - Frank Field, Graham Stringer and Gareth Snell - have all suggested they could vote with the government on the "meaningful vote" amendment. Could Labour rebels end up helping Theresa May avoid a humiliating defeat?
Tory grandee and prominent pro-EU MP Ken Clarke lays into his colleagues, saying the idea the Brexit referendum "decided each and every issue that's now going to arise is, frankly, intellectually lazy".
He accuses opponents of "refusing to engage with what we're actually talking about", adding:
"I do not think that most members of the public feel their vote decided the issues we're taking about today about parliamentary scrutiny and control."
It's looking like most potential Tory rebels will abstain on the "meaningful vote" amendment, almost guaranteeing the government will win the vote. After weeks of speculation about how the Commons could inflict a series of defeats on the government, it seems ministers are on course to get their way on all 14 of the Lords amendments.
Once again, Tory rebels seem to have backed down at the last minute.
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