House of Commons
Parliament

MPs have voted against Labour's amendment:

Ayes: 240

Noes: 323

Majority: 83

House of Commons
Parliament

With the conclusion of the debate, Jeremy Corbyn moves the Labour frontbench amendment (a).

Amendment (a) pushes for Labour's proposals for Brexit, which include creating a permanent customs union with the EU, and a close relationship with its single market.

MPs are now voting on the amendment.

The result is expected in around 15 minutes.

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The Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay now gets to his feet.

Responding to a question from Conservative Alberto Costa, he confirms he will write to the EU about protecting citizens' rights in the event of a no-deal.

He welcomes Caroline Spelman's intentions not to move her amendment in the light of government assurances.

Her amendment called for MPs to be given time on 28 February to put in place a legislative process to ensure the prime minister's commitment to give MPs a vote on delaying Brexit is legally binding.

He also confirms he will accept Yvette Cooper's amendments which states that if MPs vote to delay Brexit, the government should seek an extension from the EU and bring forward legislation to change, in law, the date of the UK's departure.

Yvette Cooper intervenes to say there are reports that the Leader of the House has said there could be circumstances no-deal could happen even if MPs had voted against that outcome.

Mr Barclay replies he has been sitting in the chamber and has not heard the comments, but that his response represents the government's position.

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Winding up the debate for Labour, shadow Brexit minister Matthew Pennycook says the UK is at "an impasse" and that nothing in the prime minister's statement yesterday suggested that this is likely to change soon.

Mr Pennycook says he would be "amazed" if any reassurances the prime minister receives over the backstop are supported by both the DUP and ERG.

"It is inevitable that the UK will have to seek an extension of Article 50 and delay Brexit day until beyond 29 March," he adds.

He says Theresa May's assurances in her statement yesterday that there will be votes on no-deal and the extension of Article 50 if her deal is defeated was "the right thing to do".

Mr Pennycook says it is "almost inevitable" that MPs will have to explore "credible alternatives to the prime minister's deal", and that Labour's frontbench amendment (a) outlines a clear plan.

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SNP Europe spokesman Peter Grant says MPs are being presented with "a false choice" between "a rotten deal and a no deal".

He says Scotland has "an alternative future".

"That future will be claimed by the people of Scotland before long," he concludes.

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SNP Pete Wishart is unequivocal: "I loathe Brexit. I hate the isolating ugliness of the whole project.

"Brexit is breaking the country, it is starting to break the UK political parties and is well on its way to consuming this government," he says.

Fellow SNP MP Joanna Cherry asks MPs to "have the gumption" to support their amendment which rules out a no-deal Brexit.

She likens a no-deal Brexit to "shooting ourselves in the foot".

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Conservative MP Lee Rowley says Brexit "isn't about us, like most MPs think".

MPs are "seeking to frustrate the will of the people", he adds, noting that the government "should actually have tried to negotiate in a meaningful way".

"If there is a good deal put to MPs then we must vote for it," he concludes.

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Conservative Priti Patel criticises the government's negotiation of the Brexit deal.

She says negotiators missed the opportunity to change their approach and that the current deal "is not acceptable".

However she says the prime minister now has the option to secure a deal that "can deliver the Brexit the British people were promised".

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Not long to go in the Brexit debate.

Voting will begin at 19.00 GMT.

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Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake says he supports the SNP amendment because it "does what it says on the tin" regarding ruling out a no-deal Brexit.

He believes many MPs across the House will also support it.

"No-deal would be a catastrophe," he says, arguing that the government needs to seek an extension to Article 50 and "the clear purpose of that would be for a 'People's Vote'".

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Green MP Caroline Lucas says it is an honour to speak after Mr Costa and calls for him to be reinstated as a ministerial aide.

She then turns to her own amendment which says existing environmental protections the UK enjoys through EU membership should be maintained and improved.

She says government promises are "worthless without concrete action" and urges the government to embed environmental principles into UK law.

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Alberto Costa says he is a loyal member of the Conservative Party and has "never rebelled".

He says he is pleased the government has accepted his amendment on citizens' rights but that it is "a sad state of affairs" that it is needed in the first place.

"We are at our best when we stick together," he says, but notes that "when an amendment attracts such broad consensus across the House, a sensible government must accept it".

The more than three million EU citizens living in the UK "should never have been used as a bargaining chip in the negotiations".

The government must do everything it possibly can to get a legal mandate from the EU Commission to carve out those citizens' rights, adding "there is no legal hurdle at all" in the way of this.

Regarding his resignation as parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to the Scottish Secretary David Mundell, Mr Costa says "it is a convention that if a PPS tables an amendment to a bill they ought to resign... that is all I will say on the matter".

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Conservative former minister Dominic Grieve, who supports the idea of another EU referendum, suggests there may be "no point" extending Article 50 if "we don't know what to do with it [ the extension period]".

"I don't know if this house is capable of coming to a consensus," he warns.

"That is why I urge my friends on the Treasury bench that they should not ignore the possibility of consulting the public."

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Labour MP Pat McFadden says the admission that Article 50 may need to be extended was only "dragged out" of Theresa May through "fear of ministerial resignations".

He adds that there is "no point" in extending Article 50 for a few months "just to carry on parliamentary gridlock".

If there is an extension, he says it must be for a purpose, and that purpose should be "for clarity between the UK and the EU" on their future relationship.

Mr McFadden says the reality of the choices facing the UK "must be exposed", but this is not the government's plan, which is "to get us out before it all becomes clear".

"It is an illusion to pretend vagueness achieves closure - it just carries on the argument after we've left," he adds.

Removing no-deal "removes a gun held to our own head", Mr McFadden concludes.