European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 6) Bill — Clause 1 — Purpose of Delaying Withdrawal — Content of Bill to Implement Withdrawl Agreement — 4 Sep 2019 at 19:00

The majority of MPs voted against setting the purpose of delaying the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union as being to pass a bill implementing a withdrawal agreement which incorporates provisions on new arrangements for Northern Ireland, protecting worker's rights, environmental protections, free trade, proposing new customs arrangements, and ensuring MPs decide if to make the implementation of the withdrawal agreement subject to a referendum and decide on negotiating objectives for, and the final agreements on, the future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union.

MPs were considering the European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 6) Bill[1].

The amendment rejected in this vote was:

  • Amendment 6, in clause 1, page 2, line 14, at end, insert
  • “in order to debate and pass a Bill to implement the agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union under Article 50(2) of the Treaty on European Union, including provisions reflecting the outcome of inter-party talks as announced by the Prime Minister on 21 May 2019, and in particular the need for the United Kingdom to secure changes to the political declaration to reflect the outcome of those inter-party talks.”

The rejected amendment was accompanied by the following explanatory statement:

  • This amendment would set out as the purpose of seeking an extension under Article 50(3) TEU the passage of a Withdrawal Agreement Bill based on the outcome of the inter-party talks which concluded in May 2019 – see NC1 for contents of the Bill and Amendment XX for text of the request letter to the European Council.

The detail of the proposed Bill included in "NC1" (New Clause 1) was to include, according to the explanatory statement which accompanied it, ten headline points from the inter-party talks which concluded in May 2019. The contents of the Bill was set out as follows:

  • (a) provision for the Government to seek to conclude alternative arrangements to replace the backstop by December 2020;
  • (b) a commitment that, should the backstop come into force, the Government will ensure that Great Britain will stay aligned with Northern Ireland and to incorporate in United Kingdom law paragraph 50 of the 2017 joint report from the negotiators of the European Union and the United Kingdom Government on progress during phase 1 of negotiations under Article 50 TEU on the United Kingdom’s orderly withdrawal from the European Union (TF50 (2017) 19);
  • (c) provision for the negotiating objectives and final treaties for the United Kingdom’s future relationship with the European Union to be approved by the House of Commons;
  • (d) legislation on workers’ rights to guarantee workers’ rights in the future in the United Kingdom will be no less favourable than comparable workers’ rights in the European Union;
  • (e) provisions ensuring that there will be no change in the level of environmental protection applicable in the United Kingdom after the United Kingdom leaves the European Union, and to establish an independent office of environmental protection, able to uphold standards and enforce compliance;
  • (f) a requirement for the United Kingdom to seek as close to frictionless trade in goods with the European Union as possible, while outside the single market and ending free movement;
  • (g) a requirement for the United Kingdom to keep up to date with European Union rules for goods and agri-food products that are relevant to checks at the border in order to protect employment that depends on just-in-time supply chains;
  • (h) a customs compromise for the House of Commons to decide upon;
  • (i) an opportunity for a decision to be made by the House of Commons whether the implementation of the withdrawal agreement should be subject to a referendum; and
  • (j) a duty for Ministers of the Crown to secure changes to the political declaration to reflect the provisions in this subsection.”

The "Form of letter from the Prime Minister to the President of the European Council" referred to was present in the proposed NS1 (New Schedule 1)[3] and stated:

  • Dear Mr President
  • The UK Parliament has passed the European Union (Withdrawal) (No.2) Act 2019. Its provisions now require Her Majesty’s Government to notify the European Council that the notice of withdrawal by the UK from the European Union, given on 29 March 2017, is revoked.
  • I am writing therefore to inform the European Council that I am revoking the notice of withdrawal by the UK from the European Union, given on 29 March 2017.
  • Yours sincerely,
  • Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The bill detail and the text of the letter while mentioned in the explanatory statement were not directly the subject of this vote.

Paragraph 50 of the 2017 joint report from the negotiators of the European Union and the United Kingdom Government on progress during phase 1 of negotiations under Article 50 TEU on the United Kingdom’s orderly withdrawal from the European Union (TF50 (2017) 19) states:

Debate in Parliament |

Public Whip is run as a free not-for-profit service. If you'd like to support us, please consider switching your (UK) electricity and/or gas to Octopus Energy or tip us via Ko-Fi.

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
Con179 56 (+2 tell)182.4%
DUP10 00100.0%
Green1 00100.0%
Independent27 0065.9%
Lab224 (+2 tell) 8094.7%
LDem15 00100.0%
PC4 00100.0%
SNP35 00100.0%
Total:495 64187.9%

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
Bim AfolamiHitchin and HarpendenCon (front bench)aye
Peter AldousWaveneyCon (front bench)aye
Stuart AndrewPudseyCon (front bench)aye
Kemi BadenochSaffron WaldenCon (front bench)aye
Harriett BaldwinWest WorcestershireConaye
Peter BottomleyWorthing WestCon (front bench)aye
Andrew BowieWest Aberdeenshire and KincardineConaye
Karen BradleyStaffordshire MoorlandsCon (front bench)aye
Maria CaulfieldLewesCon (front bench)aye
Alex ChalkCheltenhamConaye
Colin ClarkGordonCon (front bench)aye
Stephen CrabbPreseli PembrokeshireCon (front bench)aye
Mims DaviesEastleighCon (front bench)aye
Caroline DinenageGosportCon (front bench)aye
Jackie Doyle-PriceThurrockConaye
David DuguidBanff and BuchanCon (front bench)aye
Philip DunneLudlowCon (front bench)aye
Tobias EllwoodBournemouth EastConaye
Vicky FordChelmsfordCon (front bench)aye
George FreemanMid NorfolkCon (front bench)aye
Mike FreerFinchley and Golders GreenConaye
Roger GaleNorth ThanetCon (front bench)aye
Mark GarnierWyre ForestContellaye
Luke GrahamOchil and South PerthshireCon (front bench)aye
Richard GrahamGloucesterCon (front bench)aye
Bill GrantAyr, Carrick and CumnockCon (front bench)aye
Damian GreenAshfordCon (front bench)aye
Kirstene HairAngusCon (front bench)aye
Damian HindsEast HampshireConaye
Simon HoareNorth DorsetCon (front bench)aye
George HollingberyMeon ValleyContellaye
Kevin HollinrakeThirsk and MaltonCon (front bench)aye
Alister JackDumfries and GallowayCon (front bench)aye
Gillian KeeganChichesterCon (front bench)aye
Stephen KerrStirlingCon (front bench)aye
John LamontBerwickshire, Roxburgh and SelkirkCon (front bench)aye
Jeremy LefroyStaffordCon (front bench)aye
David LidingtonAylesburyConaye
Paul MastertonEast RenfrewshireCon (front bench)aye
Theresa MayMaidenheadConaye
Maria MillerBasingstokeCon (front bench)aye
Nicky MorganLoughboroughCon (front bench)aye
Sarah NewtonTruro and FalmouthConaye
Neil O'BrienHarboroughConaye
Guy OppermanHexhamCon (front bench)aye
Andrew PercyBrigg and GooleConaye
Daniel PoulterCentral Suffolk and North IpswichConaye
Victoria PrentisBanburyCon (front bench)aye
Jeremy QuinHorshamCon (front bench)aye
Douglas RossMorayCon (front bench)aye
Amber RuddHastings and Ryewhilst Con (front bench)aye
Andrew SelousSouth West BedfordshireCon (front bench)aye
Alec ShelbrookeElmet and RothwellConaye
Iain StewartMilton Keynes SouthCon (front bench)aye
Robert SymsPooleCon (front bench)aye
Thomas TugendhatTonbridge and MallingCon (front bench)aye
Robin WalkerWorcesterCon (front bench)aye
Jeremy WrightKenilworth and SouthamConaye
Matthew OffordHendonCon (front bench)both
Lord John [Missing last name for 41744]BassetlawLab (minister)aye
Kevin BarronRother ValleyLab (minister)aye
Sarah ChampionRotherhamLab (minister)aye
Rosie CooperWest LancashireLab (minister)aye
Jim FitzpatrickPoplar and LimehouseLabaye
Caroline FlintDon ValleyLab (minister)aye
Emma Lewell-BuckSouth ShieldsLabaye
Melanie OnnGreat GrimsbyLab (minister)aye

About the Project

The Public Whip is a not-for-profit, open source website created in 2003 by Francis Irving and Julian Todd and now run by Bairwell Ltd.

The Whip on the Web

Help keep PublicWhip alive