European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 5) Bill — Clause 1 — Length of Delay to the UK Leaving the EU — 8 Apr 2019 at 22:00

The majority of MPs voted in favour of allowing the Government to delay United Kingdom leaving the European Union to an alternative date so long as any delay extends beyond 22 May 2019.

MPs were considering the European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 5) Bill^[1].

The amendment rejected by the majority of MPs in this vote was:

• Amendment (a) proposed to Lords amendment 5.

Lords amendment 5 stated^[2]:

• Page 2, line 3, at end insert—
• “(8) Nothing in this section prevents a Minister of the Crown from seeking, or agreeing to, an extension of the period specified in Article 50(3) of the Treaty on European Union otherwise than in accordance with this section provided that the extension cannot end earlier than 22 May 2019.
• (9) In deciding for the purposes of subsection (8) whether an extension cannot end earlier than 22 May 2019, the earlier ending of the extension as a result of the entry into force of the withdrawal agreement (as provided for in Article 50(3) of the Treaty on European Union) is to be ignored.”

Amendment (a) to the above amendment stated^[3]:

• Line 5, leave out from “end” to end of line 9 and insert “later than 22 May 2019.”

(As well as amendment (a), the amendment paper contains an "amendment in lieu" (a); this vote was on the former).

It appears the end of line 9 is the end of subsection (9), so amendment (a) would remove subsection (9) and change "earlier" to "later" in subsection (8)

• [1] Parliament's webpage on the European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 5) Bill 2017-19, Parliament.uk
• [2] Lords amendments to the European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 5) Bill 2017-19, Parliament.uk
• [3] Commons amendments to Lords amendments on the European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 5) Bill 2017-19, Parliament.uk

Debate in Parliament |