Nicky Morgan: I rebelled against the Government on a principle of democracy

It gave me no pleasure to vote against the Government last night in the vote requiring Parliament to have the final say on the Brexit agreement — especially when it ended up losing the vote. But I felt in principle that I had to do so. And the principle is that control has to come back to Parliament on Brexit. When it comes to approving the final deal, the British Parliament should have the same rights as the European parliament.

Specifically, the amendment I voted for said that no secondary legislation (which has far less scrutiny in Westminster) to effect our withdrawal from the EU should be implemented before Parliament has approved the withdrawal agreement via an Act of Parliament.

Much of the rhetoric around Brexit has been about Britain taking back control; well, this amendment was to return control to Westminster. It was about the principle of parliamentary sovereignty. That’s something we should all support.

The frustrating aspect of last night’s defeat for the Government was that it was unnecessary. It is difficult to see why it couldn’t have accepted the amendment supported by me and other Conservative colleagues. It has been around since September.

Unfortunately, the Government didn’t really engage with our objections until far too late when it conceded, via a written statement, the principle of the amendment just 17 minutes before the vote. Many MPs including me felt that wasn’t enough. Given the importance of this principle we thought that it should be properly written down in the EU Withdrawal Bill to avoid problems.

There will be another vote next week, on an amendment as to whether Britain will leave the EU on March 20, 2019. We want the Government not to move the amendment about the date. As we saw last week, negotiations aren’t always completed on time so having an exit date could be unhelpful.

What this is really about is democracy, one of the fundamental British values. It’s one of those things we take for granted until it is challenged. It’s about being able to agree to disagree, to debate, to ask questions, to scrutinise, to vote — it’s what our House of Commons does so well.

I shall continue to hold ministers to account and ask the Government questions. And let me assure you, confident ministers, such as the Prime Minister and David Davis, are quite happy to accept that challenge. Scrutinising this crucial legislation to make it better isn’t disloyalty: it’s what MPs should be doing and what my constituents expect. It’s what democracy is about.

Nicky Morgan is the Conservative MP for Loughborough