MPs give green light for Theresa May to trigger Brexit

The battle for Brexit will move to the House of Lords as the government warned peers not to thwart the smooth passage of the Article 50 bill triggering the process to leave the EU.

MPs voted by 494 votes to 122 on Wednesday night to empower the government to start two years of talks with the EU on the terms of the divorce. The bill must now be approved by peers, who will begin debating it after they return from recess on February 20.

The government secured the backing of most Labour MPs in the Commons but does not have a majority in the upper house where Liberal Democrats have already vowed to continue trying to amend the legislation. Conservative peers have been told not to leave the country. Pro-Europe Tory and Labour peers may also try and make changes.

David Davis, secretary of state for exiting the EU, said he expected the Lords to “do its job and to do its patriotic duty and actually give us the right to go on and negotiate that new relationship”.

However another government official has warned the Lords it would face an “overwhelming” public call to be abolished if it opposed the bill.

The source told the BBC: “If the Lords don’t want to face an overwhelming public call to be abolished they must get on and protect democracy and pass this bill.”

Mr Davis said on Wednesday: “The decision on EU membership has been made by the people we serve. It is now time for everyone, whichever way they voted in the referendum, to unite to make a success of the important task at hand for our country.”

Theresa May, the prime minister, largely managed to quell a rebellion within her own Conservative party.

Instead, it has been the opposition Labour party that has struggled to paper over the cracks. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn lost Clive Lewis, one of his key lieutenants as a result of his decision to order his MPs to vote with the government. A total of 52 MPs rebelled against Mr Corbyn’s bid not to antagonise millions of Labour supporters who voted Leave last year. This included Mr Lewis, the shadow business secretary.

Mr Lewis resigned shortly before the vote, saying he could not support a measure that would damage his constituency.

“When I became the MP for Norwich South, I promised my constituents I would be Norwich’s voice in Westminster, not Westminster’s voice in Norwich,” he said. “I therefore cannot, in all good conscience, vote for something I believe will ultimately harm the city I have the honour to represent, love and call home.”

Mr Corbyn said that, while he understood the difficulties facing MPs from Remain-supporting constituencies “the Labour party respects the outcome of the EU referendum [and] we have been clear from the start that Labour will not frustrate the triggering of Article 50”.

Mr Corbyn spent the day trying to persuade Mr Lewis, seen as a potential party leader successor, not to vote against the bill. At 8pm, Mr Lewis announced that he was resigning to vote against Article 50. Other potential rebels, including Diane Abbott, shadow home secretary, fell into line and voted with the government.

Mr Corbyn lost three members of the shadow cabinet over the bill last week. Another 15 junior shadow ministers and whips defied the whip last week in an earlier reading but have not yet been disciplined.

Despite facing a series of amendments which could have watered down the bill or forced the government into greater parliamentary accountability, none was passed and the bill went through unamended.

Shortly before the Article 50 vote, MPs voted against giving EU nationals the automatic right to remain in the UK as the first piece of legislation to authorise the departure from the EU made its way through the Commons.

The Commons rejected eight clauses and amendments on Wednesday evening. They included “clause 57”, tabled by Labour, requiring the government to guarantee the rights of EU migrants before Article 50 is triggered.

Ed Vaizey, a former Conservative minister, said he would not vote against his own government but called for assurances as soon as possible for EU workers, who were “devastated” after having been “plunged into uncertainty”.

Another controversial amendment, tabled by the Lib Dems, called for a second EU referendum before Britain leaves the EU.

Mrs May had on Tuesday closed down a Conservative rebellion by promising MPs a vote on the final draft of any EU exit agreement.

That pledge was initially hailed by Labour as a “huge” concession. But the euphoria subsided as ministers made it clear that if parliament opposed the deal, Britain would simply leave the EU with no deal at all.

Nonetheless, the promise of a “meaningful” vote on the terms helped to appease pro-EU Tories, who wanted parliament to have, in effect, a veto on the terms of Britain’s exit.

On Wednesday evening Mrs May defeated a Labour amendment that would have stopped ministers striking a deal until it had been approved by MPs and peers.

The government also defeated an amendment brought by the Labour MP Chuka Umunna to force it to publish the impact of leaving the EU on NHS finances.

This was sparked by claims from the Leave campaign during the referendum campaign that £350m a week was being given to the EU, money that could instead be spent on the health service.

Mr Umunna had said the British people would feel “betrayed” if the senior Conservative MPs who fronted the campaign to leave failed to fulfil their controversial campaign pledge.