Remain backing MPs are one step closer to blocking a no-deal Brexit (Picture: Reuters)

MPs have voted for a bill which would force Boris Johnson to ask for an extension to the UK’s membership of the European Union.

The Benn-Burt Bill, which passed the first round of votes in the Commons this afternoon, would also make a no-deal Brexit illegal without parliamentary approval.

The Prime Minister has now said he will seek a snap general election in response to MPs backing the bill.

The vote comes during an extraordinary few days in Parliamentary history. In the last 24 hours, opposition MPs have taken control of the Parliamentary agenda and then forced through a law in almost record-time to force a Prime Minister to do something that goes completely against his policies.




After passing the bill 329-300 in the first round, MPs debated amendments before sending the legislation on to the House of Lords for discussion tomorrow.

One of the amendments seeking to put Theresa May’s final offer back on the table appeared to have passed by accident.

No tellers were available meaning the amendment submitted by Labour MP Stephen Kinnock went through by default.

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MPs will debate amendments to the bill ahead of a vote at 7pm tonight (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)

Members voted in favour of the amended bill to be given a third reading in the House of Lords by 327 votes to 299.

Depending on how long the Lords take to debate, it could stretch on past the weekend.

If the Lords pass any amendments it will then go back to the House of Commons for the green-light before receiving Royal Assent from the Queen to become law.

Johnson says taking no-deal off the table would ‘hand control’ of negotiations to the EU and undermine the UK’s negotiating strategy.

This evening he said: ‘I think it’s very sad that MPs have voted like this, I do, I think it’s a great dereliction of their democratic duty.

‘The Right Honourable Gentleman’s bill, amongst it’s other functions, is to take away the right of this country to decide how long it must remain in the EU and hands that power to the EU.

‘That’s what it does, and I think it’s for this country to decide whether that is right’.

It hasn’t been the best few days for Boris Johnson (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)

Pro-remain MP Kenneth Clarke had the whip removed for backing last night’s motion (Picture: BBC News)

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said protecting the UK from a no-deal Brexit under a Johnson government prevents the country being at the mercy of a trade deal with Donald Trump’s administration.

He said such an outcome would leave ‘America first and Britain a distant second’ and said there was ‘no mandate for no deal’ and ‘no majority in this house’.

Opponents of Johnson say crashing out on World Trade Organisation terms would be a ‘disaster for the economy’.

Corbyn took a dig at the PM for failing to reveal any alternatives for a new deal – having been given a 30 day ultimatum by Angela Merkel to find a solution to stalemate over the Irish backstop arrangement.



He added: ‘Let the Prime Minister go to Brussels tomorrow to ask for an extension so that he can seek a mandate for his unknown Brexit plan and put it before the people’.

The bill has made its way through the first hurdle in the Commons (Picture: BBC News)

Former PM Theresa May at Prime attending Prime Minister’s Questions today (Picture: Reuters)

Johnson endured a humiliating defeat in his first parliamentary vote as PM after MPs passed yesterday’s opposition backed motion – allowing today’s bill to be introduced.

He faced a rebellion of pro-remain Tory MPs, 21 of whom have had the whip removed, effectively expelling them from the Conservative Party.

The Tories lost their majority yesterday when MP Philip Lee walked across the chamber and sat with the Liberal Democrats.

Caroline Spellman joined the list of remain-backing rebels following the round of votes at 5pm.

After last night’s motion was passed, Johnson said: ‘I don’t want an election. The public don’t want an election.

Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson might be welcoming new members after the Tories withdrew the whip from more than 20 rebel MPs (Picture: Reuters)

It has been a tumultuous couple of days in the Commons (Picture: AP/HOC)

‘But if the House votes for this bill tomorrow, the public will have to choose who goes to Brussels on October 17 to sort his out and take this country forward.’

He said if Jeremy Corbyn becomes Prime Minister he would ‘beg for an extension’ from Brussels and will ‘accept whatever Brussels demands and we’ll have years more arguments over Brexit’.

Johnson added: ‘And by contrast, everyone will know that if I am prime minister, I will go to Brussels, I will go for a deal and get a deal but if they won’t do a deal we will leave anyway on 31 October.

‘I don’t want an election, but if MPs vote tomorrow to stop the negotiations and to compel another pointless delay of Brexit, potentially for years, then that will be the only way to resolve this.’


The Labour Party says it is prepared to support Johnson’s call for a general election on October 15 but only once the Benn-Burt bill becomes law.

Jeremy Corbyn said a no-deal Brexit would mean an ‘America first, Britain distant second’ US trade deal (Picture: BBC News)

The bill is a crushing blow for Johnson who has insisted the UK must leave the EU by October 31 with or without a deal (Picture: UK Parliament)

The bill will give Johnson a mandate to ask the EU to let the UK stay in the bloc until January 31.

That is, unless the UK agrees on a trade deal before then or of Parliament accepts a no-deal by October 19.

Kinnock’s amendment seeks to bring back Theresa May’s final Brexit offer – the Withdrawal Agreement Bill, which emerged from cross-party talks earlier this year.

It was never put before Parliament because May was forced to resign as leader of the Conservative Party before she was able to put it to a vote.

Mr Kinnock said: ‘It is a travesty that Parliament did not get to vote on the Withdrawal Agreement Bill as it was very different to the former prime minister’s blind Brexit and provided far more clarity on EU and UK relations.

‘The failure to compromise has played into the hands of the no-dealers, and the legal default is to leave without a deal.’

He implied that MPs may well have passed the bill if it ever got to that stage.

Kinnock added: ‘I think many of us wish a crystal ball had been handed out when we first came to this place.

‘Our side was ready to accept a deal and now a way should be found to put that deal back on the table.’

Members rejected by 495-65 Amendment 19 – proposed by Conservative Richard Graham – which would have removed the need for Parliament to approve no-deal by forcing Johnson to seek an extension.


Opponents of a no-deal Brexit have had to act quickly, after Johnson announced his plans to prorogue Parliament for five weeks from mid-September.

The Prime Minister insisted it had nothing to do with Brexit and that it was to make way for a Queen’s Speech to introduce a new legislative agenda.

But many people thought it was a way to tie the hands of his political opponents and thousands of people took to the streets across the country to protest.

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