European Union (Withdrawal) Act — Withdrawal Agreement — Right for the UK to Unilaterally Terminate the Protocol on Ireland / Northern Ireland — 15 Jan 2019 at 19:00
The majority of MPs voted not to amend the agreement with the European Union on the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the union to allow the United Kingdom to unilaterally terminate the arrangements, including a single customs territory, designed to both prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland and retain the United Kingdom's integrity.
The withdrawal agreement contained a "protocol on Ireland / Northern Ireland". The protocol sought to prevent a hard-border on the island of Ireland and provides for a "single customs territory" encompassing the United Kingdom and the European Union, covering therefore both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Article 7 of the protocol provides for protections for the United Kingdom's internal market and begins by stating:
- Nothing in this Protocol shall prevent the United Kingdom from ensuring unfettered market access for goods moving from Northern Ireland to the rest of the United Kingdom's internal market.
The provisions intended to preserve the economic and constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom, while preventing a hard border on the island of Ireland are known as the "backstop".[1]
MPs were debating a motion stating:
- That this House approves for the purposes of section 13(1)(b) of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, the negotiated withdrawal agreement laid before the House on Monday 26 November 2018 with the title ‘Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community’ and the framework for the future relationship laid before the House on Monday 26 November 2018 with the title ‘Political Declaration setting out the framework for the future relationship between the European Union and the United Kingdom’.
The amendment rejected in this vote was:
- Amendment (f): at end, add
- “subject to changes being made in the Withdrawal Agreement and in the Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol so that the UK has the right to terminate the Protocol without having to secure the agreement of the EU.”
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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.
Party | Majority (No) | Minority (Aye) | Both | Turnout |
Con | 282 (+2 tell) | 23 (+2 tell) | 0 | 97.5% |
DUP | 10 | 0 | 0 | 100.0% |
Green | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.0% |
Independent | 6 | 1 | 0 | 87.5% |
Lab | 251 | 0 | 0 | 98.0% |
LDem | 11 | 0 | 0 | 100.0% |
PC | 4 | 0 | 0 | 100.0% |
SNP | 35 | 0 | 0 | 100.0% |
Total: | 600 | 24 | 0 | 97.8% |
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
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