May suffers fresh Brexit defeat

LONDON, June 18 

Britain’s House of Lords inflicted another defeat on the government on Monday  over its flagship Brexit Bill, sending it back to MPs and setting up a fresh showdown between Prime Minister Theresa May and her pro-European rebels.

Unelected peers in the Upper House voted by 354 to 235 to support a rebel amendment on the role Parliament should play if the government fails to secure a deal with the European Union before Britain leaves the bloc in March 2019.

“I want to ensure that Parliament does have a meaningful vote and I don’t want to see that left to chance,” said Lord Hailsham, the member of May’s Conservative Party who proposed the motion.

The amendment to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill was drawn up in consultation with pro-European MPs in the lower House of Commons, who will have a chance to vote on it themselves on Wednesday.

They had threatened to rebel on the same issue when they debated the Bill last week, but held off following personal assurances from May that she would heed their concerns.

However, her compromise amendment fell short of their expectations, and peers agreed to back an alternative so the MPs could vote again when the Bill returns to them, in a process known as "ping-pong”.

May earlier warned that any attempt by Parliament to take control of the Brexit negotiations would weaken her hand. “Of course we have been listening to concerns about the role of parliament,” she told reporters.

“But we need to make sure that Parliament can’t tie the government's hands in negotiation and can’t overturn the will of the British people.” Despite the stuttering progress in the talks with Brussels, both sides still hope to reach a deal in October. — AFP