MPs back government’s Brexit timetable

She is attending this week’s Supreme Court case with bodyguards.

Political reporters from non-BBC publications also criticised Baker. “We will publish, before Article 50 is triggered, a statement about our negotiating strategy and objectives”, Mr Lidington, the minister who manages government business in parliament, told lawmakers.

The debate was ongoing as the third day of the article 50 case saw a lawyer for the Northern Ireland Assembly argue triggering Brexit could affect the devolution settlement, while a lawyer for the Scottish Parliament argued it must be consulted because exiting the European Union would involve ‘significant change for the Scottish government and parliament.

European Commissioner Michel Barnier urged the United Kingdom to “keep calm and negotiate” as he suggested October 2018 will be the deadline for agreement so any deal has time to be ratified by the European Parliament and national leaders sitting in the European Council. The government is challenging that decision in the Supreme Court, which began hearing the case on Monday.

What is the point of the court ruling if the Government has already held a Commons vote on Article 50?

Crucially, it does not trigger Article 50.

“What will the Government have agreed at the end of two years of negotiation?”

“Does he think it reasonable, having supported this amendment, that they should frustrate and slow down the process of Article 50?”

It means that Mrs May will need an Article 50 Act of Parliament, which will also have to be passed by the House of Lords.

Sources also said by accepting Labour’s amendment, the government was not agreeing to give MPs a vote before the process of leaving the European Union begins.

In a sometimes rowdy session in parliament, the opposition Labour Party pressed its motion for a detailed plan setting out the government’s negotiating stance in its talks with the bloc before triggering the formal divorce procedure.

The debate comes after a procedural battle between the parties over the wording of the motion to be put to MPs.

Europhile former chancellor Kenneth Clarke said Mrs May’s promise to reveal her plan was “extremely vague”, and called for it to be set out in detail in a White Paper for publication before the invocation of Article 50.

But that’s not quite how every Labour MPs sees it.

However, Starmer said publishing Brexit plan was necessary to allow the government’s proposals to be subject to “the full and proper procedures” of the Westminster parliament, and warned that Labour will seek to “head off hard Brexit”.

This motion had been expected to draw support from dozens of May’s Conservative MPs but the premier fended off a rebellion with a last-minute amendment, accepting the Labour motion on condition that MPs support her timetable for triggering the Brexit talks.

“The vote on 23 June was not a vote to write those who voted to remain out of their own history”, he said.

David Davis, Britain’s Brexit minister, said on Wednesday that the British Parliament may not get to vote at all on the country’s final Brexit deal.