MPs will be asked to consider a range of alternative Brexit options after parliament seized control of the Commons agenda to force a series of “indicative votes”.
Several options have been tabled and the Speaker, John Bercow, will select a number of the following for discussion and votes later on Wednesday.
Labour plan
Labour has tabled a motion proposing its plan for a close economic relationship with the EU. The plan includes a comprehensive customs union with a UK say on future trade deals; close alignment with the single market; matching new EU rights and protections; participation in EU agencies and funding programmes; and agreement on future security arrangements, including access to the European arrest warrant.
Common market 2.0
Tabled by the Conservative MPs Nick Boles, Robert Halfon and Andrew Percy and Labour’s Stephen Kinnock, Lucy Powell and Diana Johnson.
The motion proposes UK membership of the European Free Trade Association (Efta) and European Economic Area (EEA). It allows continued participation in the single market and a “comprehensive customs arrangement” with the EU after Brexit, which would remain in place until the agreement of a wider trade deal which guarantees frictionless movement of goods and an open border in Ireland.
Confirmatory public vote
Drawn up by the Labour MPs Peter Kyle and Phil Wilson and tabled by the former foreign secretary Dame Margaret Beckett with the backing of scores of MPs across the house, this motion would require a public vote to confirm any Brexit deal passed by parliament before its ratification.
Customs union
This plan requires a commitment to negotiate a “permanent and comprehensive UK-wide customs union with the EU” in any Brexit deal.
It is tabled by the veteran Conservative Europhile Ken Clarke, and backed by Labour’s Yvette Cooper, Helen Goodman and the chair of the Commons exiting the EU committee, Hilary Benn, and the former Tory ministers Sir Oliver Letwin and Sarah Newton.
Malthouse compromise plan A
A cross-party proposal calls for Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement to be implemented with the controversial “backstop” for the Irish border replaced by alternative arrangements.
Backed by Conservatives from both…
