David Davis is making MPs more, not less, rebellious by denying them a vote on the Brexit deal

MPs on both sides are voting to restrict the power of the Government to change laws without a Commons vote. And MPs, suspicious of the Government’s vague promises for a vote on the final Brexit deal, want this right bolted on to the EU Withdrawal Bill

The Brexit Secretary told a Commons committee on Wednesday morning that MPs might not get a vote on the final Brexit deal until after Britain leaves the EU (PA)

Just because Big Ben is silent and covered in scaffolding, it does not mean the House of Commons has been mothballed and muted. But somehow David Davis – a one-time champion of the sovereignty of Parliament, who told voters in the referendum over and again that he wanted to “take back control” from Brussels, now seems to think it has.

The Brexit Secretary told a Commons committee on Wednesday morning that MPs might not get a vote on the final Brexit deal until after Britain leaves the EU – rendering what was promised as a “meaningful vote” utterly pointless.

This was because, he said, negotiations with Brussels could go right down to the wire, saying: “It’s no secret that the way the EU makes its decisions tends to be at the 59th minute of the 11th hour of the 11th day and so on. That’s precisely what I expect to happen here.”

Just in case anyone was still labouring under the belief that Davis is taking an utterly grown-up, sombre approach to his leading role in the negotiations, he told the Brexit Select Committee that these 11th-hour negotiations “will be a lot of pressure. It will be very high stress. Very exciting for everyone watching.”

As Cole Porter may have written, some get their kicks from cocaine; others from watching the future of their country dangle by a thread because of the negotiating skills of someone who still thinks he’s in the SAS (Weekend Division).

Inside our scaffolded Parliament, the temperature is rising. MPs on all sides are already angry that the Brexit process, which in the wake of the referendum Leavers declared would be a walk in the Parc du Cinquantenaire, is increasingly pointing to “no deal’. This scenario has gone from one of last resort, as set out by Theresa May in her Lancaster House speech in January, to one that is being talked up by Davis and his Brexiteer ally Liam Fox – to the alarm of British businesses, which would face punitive costs to import goods from Europe in these circumstances.

The Commons is increasingly rebellious over Brexit: the EU Withdrawal Bill, which will transfer laws from Brussels to the British Parliament, is already delayed in the Commons as the Government struggles to deal with the weight of so many amendments (there could be more than 400 before the end of this week).

Labour MPs are planning to vote with Conservative rebels to secure concessions on Parliament’s say over Brexit legislation, including restricting the power of the Government to change laws without a Commons vote. And MPs, suspicious of the Government’s vague promises for a vote on the final Brexit deal, want this right bolted on to the legislation.

They were right to be suspicious, as proven by Davis’s new comments that this vote might not come until after the UK has left in March 2019 – presenting Parliament with a fait accompli, no matter how bad the deal is for Britain. His remarks will send an already restless Parliament into the opposition lobby. May, put on the spot about the issue at PMQs, insisted she was “confident” that MPs would get a meaningful vote. But given the Prime Minister was “confident” she would increase her majority at the snap election, and given she was “confident” Brexit would go smoothly, she should forgive the incredulity of the Commons – and the rest of us.

The political word of the week has been “journey”, but it’s not just the abusive Labour MP Jared O’Mara who is on his travels. On Brexit, we are all being sent to a destination we were not told about, with little choice of how we get there. With its cage of scaffold bars and wooden boards, parliament may look like it is in a strait jacket – its rebellious MPs are about to show it is anything but.