Brexit: No 10 and rebels stand firm in row over 'meaningful vote'

Theresa May faces a nail-biting parliamentary clash with Conservative rebels on Wednesday as the government seeks to defeat an attempt to give MPs a “meaningful vote” before Britain could leave the EU without a deal.

The EU withdrawal bill, the government’s flagship piece of Brexit legislation, returns to the House of Commons on Wednesday against a backdrop of increasing anxiety about the risk of negotiations with the EU27 failing to yield an agreement.

A leaked draft of conclusions for next week’s European council, which emerged on Tuesday, called for “member states and all stakeholders to step up their work on preparedness at all levels for all outcomes” – a nod to the threat that the talks could fail.

A group of more than a dozen Conservative MPs, led by the former attorney general Dominic Grieve, are trying to strengthen the hand of parliament if that happens.

The rebels said on Tuesday they would not back down, as May met some of them in a series of one-to-one meetings in an attempt to win them over individually. The prime minister’s spokesman said the government did not intend to concede ground.

“We cannot accept the amendment on meaningful vote agreed in the Lords,” he said, warning that Grieve’s approach would “allow parliament to direct government on its approach to exiting the EU, binding the prime minister’s hands and making it harder to secure a good deal for the UK”.

He added: “It also does not meet the reasonable tests set out last week by the prime minister and the secretary of state for exiting the European Union that any new amendment must respect the referendum result, cannot undermine the negotiations or change the constitutional role of parliament and government.”

Grieve and most of his fellow Conservative rebels – apart from Anna Soubry and Ken Clarke – backed down last week after receiving personal assurances from May that their concerns about a no-deal Brexit would be addressed.

But Grieve later said a compromise amendment drawn up in consultation with the government minister Robert Buckland had been watered down at the last minute.

The Lords then voted by a majority of 119 on Monday to reinsert the amendment that Grieve believed he had agreed with the government – known as Grieve II – with 22 Conservative peers joining the rebellion, including the former ministers Chris Patten and Michael Heseltine.

With the bill returning to the Commons on Wednesday in an arcane parliamentary process known as ping-pong, several of the rebels told the Guardian they were “standing firm” – though they are expected to face intense pressure from party whips. Senior government sources said they were braced for a long day.

Brexit has exposed bitter divisions in both main parties, with Jeremy Corbyn suffering six resignations from the Labour frontbench last week in a two-way rebellion on another vote, about whether Britain should keep open the option of remaining in the European Economic Area.

Ministers have accepted that MPs should have a vote on any deal but object to the amendment laid before parliament, which they fear could allow MPs to direct the government’s next move.

“Our original amendment struck the right balance between respecting the tests set out by the government as well as delivering on the aims of Dominic Grieve’s own amendment. That’s why we will be retabling our original amendment today and will look to overturn the Lords decision tomorrow,” the prime minister’s spokesman said.

Brexiters in the government are keen to see May face down and defeat the rebels, because they believe No 10’s fear of a string of parliamentary defeats is skewing its approach in favour of an increasingly soft Brexit.

Meanwhile, Labour whips were working hard to ensure a strong turnout in the vote, with their number boosted by the arrival of the new Lewisham East MP, Janet Daby.

When the issue came before the Commons last week, five Labour MPs, including Frank Field and John Mann, voted with the government. Labour whips have not given up on winning over one or more of them, with the tempting prospect of defeating Theresa May in their sights.

However, one of the Labour rebels, Graham Stringer, the MP for Blackley and Broughton, signalled he had no intention of changing his mind. Appearing at an event organised by the Thatcherite Bruges group alongside the Conservative MP Nadine Dorries, he suggested Grieve and his colleagues were “not interested in a meaningful vote on the Brexit deal but in sabotaging the whole process.

The shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, urged Grieve and his colleagues to hold their nerve. “This is the last chance for parliament to secure a meaningful vote and protect jobs and the economy from a no-deal Brexit,” he said.

“Last week Theresa May broke the promise she made to her own backbenchers and forced this issue back on the table. This vote is not about stopping Brexit or tying the hands of UK negotiators. It is about making sure parliament has a truly meaningful say on the terms of the final Brexit deal. It is about protecting jobs and the economy from the risk of UK crashing out of the EU without a deal. Labour urges all MPs to back this amendment and to vote in the national interest.”

The leaked European council conclusions suggest Brussels remains profoundly concerned about what it regards as the failure of the British government to make choices on significant aspects of its future relationship with the EU.

EU leaders will “express concern that no substantial progress has yet been achieved on agreeing a backstop solution for Northern Ireland/Ireland”, according to the draft of a statement to be signed off at a summit next week.

They will say wider talks on the future and a signoff on a transition period can only proceed if the UK stands by pledges it made last December.

May agreed then that there should be a fallback plan for Northern Ireland should a technological solution or free trade deal not be agreed by the end of the proposed transition period in 2020.

The 27 EU leaders’ draft conclusions further call for “intensified efforts” by all parties, and raise the prospect of a no-deal outcome by calling for officials to prepare for every eventuality. The draft statement adds: “The negotiations can only progress as long as all commitments undertaken so far are respect in full.”

A joint EU-UK statement on the negotiations published on Tuesday details a large number of areas yet to be agreed upon in the talks, including the issue of avoiding a hard border with the Republic of Ireland, on which both sides concede they need to “accelerate” their work.

The negotiators have also failed to agree on how disputes over the withdrawal agreement will be settled in the future, whether protected geographical indications for food and drink such as champagne will continue, and how to deal with ongoing joint police work that goes beyond the end of the transition period.

The document reveals that the UK has agreed to comply with EU law on a range of issues for as long as five years in some cases after the end of the transition period, including with regard to regulations requiring cooperation in the collection of VAT.