European Union (Withdrawal) Bill — Clause 1 — Make Withdrawal Conditional on Unspecified Condition — 13 Jun 2018 at 19:43

The majority of MPs voted against making the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union conditional on an unspecified condition. (A condition was set out by another amendment: that condition was a ministerial a statement on how the United Kingdom's continued participation in a customs union with the European Union was sought during negotiations on the withdrawal agreement).

MPs were considering the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill^[1].

The motion supported by the majority of MPs in this vote was:

• That this House disagrees with Lords amendment 1.

Lords amendment 1^[2] stated:

• Page 1, line 2, at end insert—
• “(1) Subsection (2) applies if, and only if, the condition in subsection (3) is met.”

The rejected amendment sought to add an additional subsection to Clause 1 of the Bill^[3] making the key operative provision:

• "The European Communities Act 1972 is repealed on exit day."

conditional on an unspecified condition; the subsection (3) referred to was proposed by Lords amendment 3^[2] and stated:

• (3) The condition in this subsection is that, by 31 October 2018, a Minister of the Crown has laid before both Houses of Parliament a statement outlining the steps taken in negotiations under Article 50(2) of the Treaty on European Union to negotiate, as part of the framework for the United Kingdom’s future relationship with the European Union, an arrangement which enables the United Kingdom to continue participating in a customs union with the European Union.”

Repeal of the European Communities Act 1972 would withdraw the United Kingdom from the union as the act implemented the treaties of the European Union in United Kingdom law.

The explanatory notes to the Lords amendments to the Bill^[4] stated, in respect of the rejected amendment, and the associated amendment 2:

• Lords Amendments 1 and 2 would prevent the repeal of the European Communities Act from taking place until the Government has laid a statement before Parliament outlining the steps taken to negotiate, as part of a framework for the UK’s future relationship with the European Union (EU), an arrangement to enable the UK to continue to participate in a customs union with the EU.

The two Lords amendments 1 and 2 could have been voted on together, or indeed submitted together, so given this separate vote was taken it is reasonable to consider the impact of Lords amendment 1 alone. Accepting amendment 1, which was the subject of this vote, alone would have left the Bill in a nonsensical state.

Following this vote a vote was taken on amendment 2^[5]. Both Lords amendments were rejected.

==

• [1] Parliament's webpage on the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill
• [2] Page of amendment sheet containing Lords amendment 1. Parliament.uk website, 16 May 2018
• [3] Clause 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill, version as referred to by the Lords amendments. 18 January 2018
• [4] Page of explanatory notes to the Lords amendments to the Bill covering amendment 1, Parliament.uk website, 22 May 2018
• [5] House of Commons Vote, European Union (Withdrawal) Bill - Make Withdrawal Conditional on Statement on Negotiations to Retain UK Participation in EU Customs Union, 13 Jun 2018 at 19:43, PublicWhip.org.uk

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