In a tense evening of voting, the government has seen off attempts to alter its agreed post-Brexit trade strategy, with the defeat of an amendment which sought to insist the UK should be forced to join a customs union with the EU if no agreement were reached on frictionless trade by 21 January 2019
MPs voted 307 to 301 to overturn the rebel amendment to the trade bill. Twelve Conservatives who are in favour of remaining in the EU, including Nicky Morgan who is chair of the Treasury committee, backed the proposal, which they claimed offered a safeguard in the event of there being no trade agreement with the EU.
Last week saw the government release a 104-page paper on its latest negotiating position for Brexit, following lengthy Cabinet discussions at Chequers.
It is committed to leaving the Single Market and the Customs Union, ending free movement and the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which has been influential in a number of significant tax appeal cases. As expected it will also leave the Common Agricultural Policy and Common Fisheries Policy.
While the government won its case for leaving the customs union, in an earlier vote MPs backed an amendment by 305 votes to 301 that would keep the UK in the European medicines regulatory network, rather than leave as had been agreed at Chequers.
The government has been seeking to bring forward the summer recess by five days, but this has now been discounted, in view of the need to get through more business before MPs take their summer holiday.
Report by Pat Sweet
