The debate and votes over hundreds of amendments to the crucial EU Withdrawal Bill look to have been delayed until next month, perhaps as late as the middle of November.

It comes as the whips struggle to contain multiple Conservative rebellions.

The legislation, formerly known as the Great Repeal Bill, has been the subject of hundreds of amendments from MPs concerned about the constitutional and economic implications of the Government's current approach to Brexit.

In what one organiser called "cross-party working on an unprecedented scale", a dozen amendments already have the names of 10 Tory MPs, while some have as many as 13 MPs.

Labour backbenchers have coordinated their work with Tory backbenchers, the Lib Dems, nationalist parties and peers.


They have also readied substitute amendments to allow for individual Conservative MPs being convinced to withdraw their concerns.

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There are six areas in which the MPs expect to defeat the Government or gain significant concessions - constitutional, an exit deal vote, transition, Euratom nuclear safeguards, the environment, and devolution issues.

Former attorney general Dominic Grieve has emerged as a key figure in this process, and concessions are expected from the Government on a raft of constitutional issues around Henry VIII powers - essentially a change in the law involving little scrutiny from MPs.

Other amendments, which might include the demand for an Act of Parliament to approve the exit deal, and therefore votes in both houses, plus statutory requirement for a transition phase along the lines of the PM's Florence speech, and on the Euratom nuclear safety treaty, also have a decent chance of passing.

Government's difficult hand over Brexit

The Government claims there is no delay to the Committee Stage of the EU Withdrawal Bill because it was never timetabled in the first place.

The reality is that the consideration of amendments was expected this week, then next week, and now has been pushed back further as the Government tries to work out how to make the numbers work.

November includes a week of recess, and a Budget, and subsequent Finance Bill.

At least one of the Brexit Bills, Sky News understands, on international sanctions, will start its life in the House of Lords, to try to alleviate a legislative logjam in the Commons.

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The House of Lords' second reading of the EU Withdrawal Bill might not now take place until next year, possibly clearing in late April or May.

The all-out procedural war on the floor of the Commons is organised as never before, and will occur against a backdrop of stalling talks, rising inflation and slowing growth.

The Tory whips are not really thinking much beyond how to win the votes before them.

For now that includes fending off rebellions on universal credit and demands for extra NHS funding.