Brexit deal latest: Fury over Boris Johnson’s plans to force through a high-speed Brexit in three days MPs also protested that they were being asked to vote for a ‘blind Brexit’ because ministers had not published details of the impact

Boris Johnson’s promise to lead Britain out of Europe on 31 October could be scuppered when he launches a fresh attempt to win MPs’ backing for his Brexit agreement with Brussels.

He faced fury after the Government published its withdrawal plans late on Monday night and announced measures to rush them through the Commons in just three days.

MPs also protested that they were being asked to vote for a “blind Brexit” because ministers had not published details of the potential economic impact of Mr Johnson’s deal with the European Union.

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‘Blind Brexit’ outrage

The Government is cautiously optimistic of being able to muster a narrow majority on Tuesday for the second reading of the EU (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill, which turns the deal into UK legislation.

However, it runs the risk of defeat in a subsequent vote on Tuesday on the so-called programme motion, which sets out its proposed schedule for driving the Bill through Parliament.

Were the Government to be defeated and lose control of the Bill’s timetable, Mr Johnson’s hopes of completing Brexit this month would be in ruins. Any delay would also hit his hopes of calling a snap election in November.

The Government also faces moves later in the week to amend the legislation to force ministers to negotiate a post-Brexit customs union with the EU and to hold a referendum on its plans. Ministers believe they can defeat both amendments.

The week ahead

The Commons leader, Jacob Rees-Mogg, said the Government planned to complete all the Bill’s Commons stages by Thursday, with legislation then moving to the Lords.

He added: “People who do not vote for the programme motion will not be voting for Brexit on 31 October.”

The Government argues that MPs have spent three years debating Brexit and voters are desperate for Britain to complete withdrawal from the EU.

Mr Johnson said: ‘I hope Parliament today votes to take back control for itself and the British people and the country can start to focus on the cost of living, the NHS, and conserving our environment. The public doesn’t want any more delays, neither do other European leaders and neither do I.”

But MPs protested that far too little time was being set aside for scrutiny of the complex 110-page Bill.

‘Running scared of the house’

Valerie Vaz, the shadow Commons leader, said: “At every stage, the government has been running scared of this House and democracy and is now attempting to force through a flawed Brexit deal which sells out people’s jobs, rights and our communities.”

The Chancellor, Sajid Javid, told the Treasury committee that the new withdrawal agreement is “self-evidently in our economic interest” – but did not say when a new assessment of the deal’s impact on the UK economy would be published.

The committee’s interim chairman Catherine McKinnell said ministers appeared “content that MPs be expected to vote blindly on its new deal”. She said: “The dearth of relevant economic analysis on which MPs can decide how to vote is deeply concerning.”

Earlier Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank and former head of the International Monetary Fund, said Brexit would harm the UK’s economy and that of its EU neighbours. She told Sky News: “It will affect both the UK and certain countries in the EU, Ireland in particular, Germany, the Netherlands. Everybody will be a little less well off as a result.”