Brexit deal vote: Boris Johnson pleads with MPs not to render vote 'meaningless'

Boris Johnson will be forced to call off a showdown vote on his Brexit deal and request a further delay from the EU if MPs back an ‘insurance policy’ amendment to avoid a no-deal scenario, Downing Street has admitted.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson

The amendment from former Tory MP Sir Oliver Letwin would withhold support for the Brexit deal until after the passage of the Withdrawal Act Implementation Bill.

That means a legal deadline requiring the Prime Minister to send a letter to Brussels by tonight, asking for an extension of the 31 October Brexit date if a deal hasn’t been agreed, will elapse.

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay told the Commons that supporting the Letwin amendment would “render tonight’s vote meaningless”.

And a Downing Street spokesman said: "A vote for Letwin is a vote for delay. The public would be appalled if MPs just vote for another pointless delay again."

A Number 10 source confirmed that Mr Letwin, who had the Tory whip removed for rebelling to try block a no-deal Brexit, was in Downing Street for talks on Friday night.

The government cannot withdraw a vote on the Brexit deal if the Letwin amendment passes, but Tory MPs will be sent home after being called into Westminster on Saturday, it is understood.

The Withdrawal Agreement Implementation Bill will be published on Monday and is set to be voted on at second reading on Tuesday, with Downing Street set to reschedule a ‘meaningful vote’ on the Brexit deal immediately afterwards.

Opening the historic weekend sitting of parliament - the first since the Falklands War - Mr Johnson urged MPs to back the Brexit deal, telling them that the time had come to heal the rift in British politics.

The agreement he has struck with Brussels would allow the UK to leave "whole and entire" on October 31, he said.

Appealing to MPs to reject the Letwin amendment, Mr Johnson said: "This is momentous occasion for our country and our Parliament.

"It would be a great shame if the opportunity to have a meaningful vote, which is what I believe this House has been convoked to do, were to be taken away from us."

Mr Johnson called for MPs to reconcile their differences over Brexit.

He told MPs: "The House will need no reminding that this is the second deal and the fourth vote, three-and-a-half years after the nation voted for Brexit.

"And during those years friendships have been strained, families divided and the attention of this House consumed by a single issue that has at times felt incapable of resolution.

"But I hope that this is the moment when we can finally achieve that resolution and reconcile the instincts that compete within us."

Jeremy Corbyn said Labour could not back a deal that was even worse than Theresa May's deal which was rejected three times by MPs.

"It is not a good deal for our country and future generations who will feel the impact. It should be voted down," he said.

"I totally understand the frustration and the fatigue across the country and in this House.

"But we simply cannot vote for a deal that is even worse than the one this House rejected three times."

The Prime Minister's official spokesman told a Westminster briefing: "What we are focused on is winning a vote on the deal.

"If Parliament approves the Prime Minister's deal today then we can get on with introducing the Withdrawal Agreement Bill at the start of next week and leaving the EU on October 31."

Asked if Parliament would have more weekend and late-night sittings, to get Brexit legislation through, a Government source said: "The public will expect whatever it takes from Parliament to get this done."