May Backs Down to Allow Parliament Vote on Her Brexit Terms

• Government accepts need for debate on its strategy to quit EU
  
• Prime minister asks Parliament to give her room to negotiate
  

Prime Minister Theresa May accepted that Parliament should be allowed to vote on her strategy for taking Britain out of the European Union as lawmakers who want to keep closer ties to the bloc began to assert themselves.
The pound climbed against all of its 31 major peers as May’s move was seen as a conciliatory gesture, calming investor concern that she was taking a gung-ho approach to negotiations with the EU. Sterling had tumbled, losing more than 6 percent this month through Tuesday, after May signaled her intention to put immigration curbs before free trade and the City of London’s interests in pulling Britain out of the bloc.
Parliament will from 12.30 p.m. on Wednesday debate a motion from the opposition Labour Party to eventually hold a “full and transparent debate on the government’s plan for leaving the EU” and for Parliament to be able to “properly scrutinize that plan” before she begins formal talks. The request is backed by some lawmakers from May’s own Conservative Party. It is not a vote on whether to leave the EU or not.
In response to Labour’s gambit, May tabled an amendment late on Tuesday that effectively accepted the motion, and instead asked that her government should be given as much space as possible to work. It said that whatever form the debate took, there shouldn’t be an attempt to block Brexit or “undermine the negotiating position of the government.”
The overnight development remains “pretty vague” and “may not monumentally change the political landscape,” Nick Probert of Nomura Holdings Inc. said in a note. “If the single market access line within that bill/vote/motion follows anything like the current rhetoric of ‘the best possible access’ to the single market, you still can’t rule out a hard Brexit.”

‘Proper Scrutiny’

It’s not clear what form the proposed scrutiny of the government’s Brexit strategy will take, nor when it will come. But any debate in Parliament requires a motion to be tabled, and any motion is subject to a vote. Labour’s Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Emily Thornberry confirmed that she wanted Parliament to take a view on May’s negotiating position. “We want to have proper scrutiny, and proper scrutiny means a vote,” she told the BBC.

More at:  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-11/may-backs-down-on-parliament-vote-over-her-brexit-terms?utm_content=business&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&cmpid%3D=socialflow-twitter-business


Well, a win for democracy.

Well done Keir Starmer and a punch on the nose for IDS.

I can see it luv, can you?

The win for democracy was June 23rd result...


The people have spoken!