Trade Bill — New Clause 18 — UK-EU Free Trade Area or Customs Union — 17 Jul 2018 at 18:00

The majority of MPs voted against making it a UK negotiating objective to establish a free trade area for goods between the UK and the EU and, if that cannot be agreed by the 21st of January 2019, against making reaching an agreement to enable the UK’s participation in a customs union with the EU a negotiating objective.

MPs were considering the Trade Bill[1].

The proposed new clause rejected in this vote was titled: Free trade area for goods and stated:

  • (1) Before exit day it shall be the objective of Her Majesty’s Government to achieve the implementation of an international agreement to enable the United Kingdom to establish a frictionless free trade area for goods between the UK and the EU.
  • (2) If an international agreement of the type set out in subsection (1) has not been agreed by 21st January 2019 then it shall be the objective of Her Majesty’s Government to achieve the implementation of an international agreement which enables the United Kingdom to participate after exit day in a customs union with the EU.
  • (3) “Exit day” shall have the meaning set out in section 20 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.”

The rejected new clause was accompanied by an explanatory statement saying:

  • This new clause would make it a negotiating objective of the UK to establish a free trade area for goods between the UK and the EU and if that cannot be agreed then it should be the objective of the UK to secure an agreement to enable the UK’s participation in a customs union with the EU.
  • [1] Parliament's webpage on the Trade Bill

Debate in Parliament |

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Party Summary

Votes by party, red entries are votes against the majority for that party.

What is Tell? '+1 tell' means that in addition one member of that party was a teller for that division lobby.

What are Boths? An MP can vote both aye and no in the same division. The boths page explains this.

What is Turnout? This is measured against the total membership of the party at the time of the vote.

PartyMajority (No)Minority (Aye)BothTurnout
Con292 (+2 tell) 12096.8%
DUP9 0090.0%
Green0 10100.0%
Independent2 3083.3%
Lab4 237 (+2 tell)094.2%
LDem0 11091.7%
PC0 40100.0%
SNP0 33094.3%
Total:307 301095.3%

Rebel Voters - sorted by party

MPs for which their vote in this division differed from the majority vote of their party. You can see all votes in this division, or every eligible MP who could have voted in this division

Sort by: Name | Constituency | Party | Vote

NameConstituencyPartyVote
Heidi AllenSouth Cambridgeshirewhilst Con (front bench)aye
Guto BebbAberconwywhilst Conaye
Kenneth ClarkeRushcliffewhilst Con (front bench)aye
Jonathan DjanoglyHuntingdonCon (front bench)aye
Dominic GrieveBeaconsfieldwhilst Con (front bench)aye
Stephen HammondWimbledonwhilst Con (front bench)aye
Phillip LeeBracknellwhilst Conaye
Nicky MorganLoughboroughCon (front bench)aye
Bob NeillBromley and ChislehurstCon (front bench)aye
Antoinette SandbachEddisburywhilst Con (front bench)aye
Anna SoubryBroxtowewhilst Conaye
Sarah WollastonTotneswhilst Con (front bench)aye
Lord John [Missing last name for 41744]BassetlawLab (minister)no
Frank FieldBirkenheadwhilst Lab (front bench)no
Kate HoeyVauxhallLab (minister)no
Graham StringerBlackley and BroughtonLab (minister)no

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