Rebel peers are awaiting the outcome of talks between Conservative MPs and the government over a meaningful parliamentary Brexit vote on Thursday, as they weigh up whether to force the issue in the House of Lords next week.

Lord Hailsham – the former Tory cabinet minister Douglas Hogg – is poised to table his amendment, strengthening the hand of parliament in the event that Brexit talks break down, if Commons rebel leader Dominic Grieve is not satisfied with the compromise offered by the government.

Downing Street sources said they expected to publish a compromise amendment before the Lords rose for the day, likely to be at about 5pm.

Grieve has been in talks with the Conservative MP Oliver Letwin over the precise wording of a clause aimed at making it more difficult for the government to take Britain out of the EU with no deal without consulting MPs.

The issue was at the heart of a knife-edge vote on Tuesday, which saw more than a dozen MPs, including Nicky Morgan and Ed Vaizey, called into the prime minister’s office to be given last-minute reassurances their concerns would be addressed.



Some Conservative MPs are sceptical about the need for the Grieve amendment, however. Tom Tugendhat, the chair of the foreign affairs committee, told Sky News he believed it was unnecessary, because if MPs voted against the Brexit deal the government would be likely to fall.

“I think we’re going to get a meaningful vote anyway,” Tugendhat said. “The meaningful vote is going to be either the government’s deal is accepted, in which case that’s the meaningful vote accepted. Or it isn’t accepted. In which case, frankly, there’s going to be a new government.”

However, Grieve and his backers – including the shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer – believe they need to ensure there will be a formal process in place.

The EU (withdrawal) bill, which is making its painstaking way through parliament, will return to the Lords on Monday. It will then go back to the Commons, in a parliamentary process known as “ping pong”.

Theresa May is trying to press ahead with the legislation needed to enact Brexit but, in a hung parliament, she must strike a delicate balance between rebels on both wings of her parliamentary party.

Two more contentious bills – on trade and customs – are set to be debated before parliament breaks off for its summer recess, and pro-EU rebels are poised for a series of fresh confrontations, including over membership of the customs union.

MPs voted this week in a series of knife-edge clashes in the Commons, to knock out all of the 15 amendments made to the EU withdrawal bill in the Lords.

Both of the biggest parties suffered rebellions, with 90 MPs refusing to obey the Labour whip and abstain from opposing an amendment aimed at keeping open the option of continued membership of the European Economic Area.

Jeremy Corbyn suffered six resignations, with the shadow minister Laura Smith stepping down to oppose EEA membership – which would require accepting freedom of movement – while five parliamentary private secretaries voted for the amendment.