MPs tell Guardian they are ready to swing behind Dominic Grieve over need for parliament to have say on final agreement

Conservative MPs believe they have the numbers to defeat Theresa May’s government on Wednesday and secure a “meaningful vote” on the final Brexit deal, in a move that would represent the first major rebellion over the EU withdrawal bill.

Several politicians told the Guardian they were ready to swing behind the demands of Dominic Grieve in a critical vote on Wednesday evening, unless ministers take last-minute steps to amend the legislation themselves.

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The former Tory attorney general made clear on Tuesday evening that he was ready to press ahead with the rebellion. “I remain hopeful that the government will listen to what I’ve said, but failing that I’m prepared to push to a vote,” he told the Guardian.

Grieve objects to clause 9 of the EU withdrawal bill, which hands ministers so-called Henry VIII powers to enact the Brexit legislation without a parliamentary vote. His amendment would not allow that to go ahead until MPs and peers had voted in favour of a fresh piece of legislation.

“The government has not come up with a legislative alternative to amending clause 9, but it must be amended,” he said. “Because it is incompatible with the government’s own stated position as to how the final withdrawal agreement will be agreed by parliament.”



Other MPs who have signed up to the amendment made clear that they were also ready to push ahead. The Conservative Heidi Allen said that she would vote for the amendment without further concessions, saying “a lot of us are very firm on this”.

Her colleague Antoinette Sandbach added: “It is vital that parliament is not denied the opportunity for scrutiny of the deal. All the other EU country parliaments will get that opportunity.”

She said the amendment would allow parliament to vote on the outcome of EU negotiations before the withdrawal agreement was implemented.

At least one Tory MP who had not signed the amendment and had never previously threatened to rebel was also ready to back Grieve.

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Meanwhile, the shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, is ready to give Grieve the support of the Labour party, whipping opposition MPs to vote in favour of amendment 7, making it much more likely to result in a government defeat if the vote goes ahead.

Matthew Pennycook, a shadow Brexit minister, urged Tories not to back down. He called on ministers to give a “cast-iron guarantee” that parliament would have a final say on the Brexit agreement. “If they fail to do so, then Tory MPs should deliver on their promises and vote with Labour tomorrow night,” he said.

Pennycook added: “Tory rebels have talked the talk, now they must walk the walk. The decision MPs make today will determine whether or not the UK goes down the path of a Brexit that respects parliamentary democracy.”

He argued that “warm words and woolly concessions from ministers” are not enough.

It was rumoured that the government were preparing to lay a written ministerial statement in a bid to compromise with rebels, but they insisted they wanted an amendment to the bill itself.





In a last-minute attempt to scupper a rebellion, the Tory chief whip, Julian Smith, demanded to see those considering opposing the government. One argument being used by whips was to stress that May had achieved a positive deal in Brussels last week over the divorce talks, resulting in a polling boost, which ought to be celebrated in the run-up to Christmas.

However, government sources insisted they wanted to listen to Tory MPs, with one saying: “It’s clear they really want clarity about how the final votes would fall and what would happen when.” They said they were seeing what they could do, although the government did not lay down a compromise amendment as expected on Friday.

One potential rebel complained that some leave campaigners in the House of Commons were trying to paint the intervention as an “act of sabotaging Brexit” but insisted: “It is nothing of the kind. This is all part of the hysteria.”

The Brexit secretary, David Davis, has already made a verbal promise to give MPs a vote in order to try to squeeze the rebellion, but he made clear that it would be a take it or leave it option, and would not guarantee that it would take place before Britain exits the EU in March 2019. The added refusal to delete clause 9 – and remove the Henry VIII powers – has left Grieve determined to push ahead.

A Labour MP backing the Tory backbench amendment said: “It’ll be tight but we have the numbers at the moment.”



The vote is so unpredictable because a handful of Labour MPs are expected to vote the other way with the government, or abstain. One of them, Frank Field, a Brexit-supporting Labour MP, said he would not support Grieve’s amendment because he was concerned it would be a platform for further changes in the House of Lords, such as trying to force a second referendum.

But sources suggested only two or three Labour MPs would vote with the government, with one leaver – John Mann – making clear he was ready to back Grieve. “I voted to return powers to the British parliament,” he said.

Mann recently argued in the Guardian that leave voters would be let down if the UK failed to secure a Brexit deal – and instead suggested looking to a Norway or Swiss-style model, inside the single market.

Meanwhile, May is facing another potential rebellion next week over a government-led amendment that attempts to enshrine the exit day – of 29 March 2019 – in British law.