Brexit vote setback for Boris Johnson in Parliament

Parliament has emptied and the action appears to be over, at least for the time being.

Brexit watchers are shifting their attention to 11 p.m. local time (6 p.m. ET), the deadline for Boris Johnson to request an extension to Article 50 from the European Union.?

He is legally obliged to do so and has previously stated that the government would comply with the law. However, today in the House of Commons he caused huge confusion, after saying that the law didn’t “compel” him to “negotiate” a delay to Brexit. Government officials elected not to clear up the messy words of the Prime Minister and as things stand, we are in the dark as to exactly what is going to happen, or if we will even hear what Johnson chooses to do.?

Right now, Johnson will be talking with strategists and his closest aides working out what they can do.

They need to not break the law, but they need to not look as though they’ve gone back on their pledge of not delaying Brexit.?

It’s a tricky corner to be in and there’s a very real chance that as the deadline hits, we will be none the wiser if the Prime Minister has broken the law or not.

Conservative MPs including Andrea Leadsom, Michael Gove and Jacob Rees-Mogg were given police escorts from Parliament due to the presence of protesters at the anti-Brexit rally in central London.

Videos posted on social media show the politicians being escorted by police as protesters waving EU flags shout lines such as “shame on you”.

Sky News journalist Jason Farrell tweeted a video of Michael Gove walking to his car, flanked by several police officers.

Leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg was walking from Parliament with his son as protesters surrounded them.

“Thank goodness for our superb police. Just walked home safely from HoC with their protection - why do the so called ‘People’s Vote’ protesters think it’s ok to abuse, intimidate and scream in the face of someone they don’t agree with? So frightening, and so grateful to the police,” Andrea Leadsom tweeted.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar confirmed that the EU hasn’t received a request for a Brexit extension yet. Boris Johnson has until 11 p.m. UK time to make one.

Here’s what Varadkar said:

The leader of the House of Commons, Jacob Rees-Mogg, has?indicated that the government would bring forward another vote on Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal on Monday.?

That section of the withdrawal act legislation provides for a vote in the House of Commons on the result of a negotiated agreement with the European Union – in other words a “meaningful vote.”

Ordinarily, the same provision can’t be voted on twice in the same parliamentary session. That convention scuppered ex-Prime Minister Theresa May’s plans to hold repeated votes on her withdrawal deal some months ago.

The Speaker of the House, John Bercow, said in Parliament that he would rule on the matter on Monday.

Crowds earlier in central London.

Up to one million protesters are marching in London to call for a second Brexit referendum, according to protest organisers.

In a statement, the People’s Vote march estimated the amount of attendees by the number of coaches bringing people to the demonstrations, leaflets distributed publicising the march and online sign-ups to the event which have exceeded previous marches organised by the campaign.?Authorities have not given estimates of crowd sizes.

Government officials have refused to clarify Boris Johnson’s words that the Benn act does not “compel” him to “negotiate” a delay to Brexit.

In a huddle with the UK’s political press a short while ago, Johnson’s spokesperson said that they would not comment any further than the remarks made by the Prime Minister in the House of Commons.

They said that?“governments comply with the law,” which is a notable move from this government’s previous position that it would abide by the law.?

When asked directly by CNN if that previous position remained, officials one again declined to comment.?

Now that a deal has not been agreed today by the House of Commons, Johnson is legally obliged to send a letter to Brussels requesting that Article 50 be extended before 11 p.m. local time (6 p.m. ET).

The government’s spokesperson gave no clarity on this matter and did not say if the letter would be made public.?

The spokeswoman for Jean-Claude Juncker, the EU Commission President, has just tweeted this:

The House of Commons’ Twitter account has clarified that the law mandates the Prime Minister to request a Brexit delay.

“Today is a historic day for Parliament,” says Jeremy Corbyn, adding that MPs “will not be blackmailed by the Prime Minister.”

“I invite him to think very carefully about the remarks he just made,” Corbyn adds, warning Boris Johnson not to break the law.

The SNP’s Ian Blackford follows Corbyn, saying Johnson “thinks he’s above the law … prime minister, you’ll find yourself in court.”

And Jo Swinson, the Liberal Democrat leader, asks the Speaker of the House to suspend the sitting so Johnson can send the letter to the EU requesting an extension – a request which is denied.

“Alas, the opportunity to have a meaningful vote has effectively been passed up,” Boris Johnson says in Parliament, after losing the vote on Oliver Letwin’s amendment. “The meaningful vote has been voided of meaning.”

“I’m not dismayed by this particular result,” he says. “The best thing for the UK and for the whole of Europe is for us to leave with this new deal on October 31.”

He then indicates he may not follow the Benn Act, which mandates him to now request a Brexit delay tonight.

“I will not negotiate a delay with the EU, and neither does the law compel me to do so,” he says. “Further delay will be bad for this country.”

Johnson also says Brexit legislation will come back to the Commons next week.

MPs have supported the Letwin amendment, which delays a decision on Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal and rules out a no-deal Brexit on October 31.

It’s a big defeat for Boris Johnson, who may now pull the vote on his Brexit deal later today.

The Prime Minister is now also forced to seek an extension to Brexit tonight.

A result on the Letwin amendment vote is imminent…

Lawmakers are voting now on the Letwin amendment, which has the potential to upend the Brexit process by withholding support of Boris Johnson’s deal until he has passed all the other legislation needed to avoid a no-deal.

The government plans to pull its vote on the main deal if Letwin passes, a senior government source told CNN earlier.

Voting should take about 15 minutes.

Former Conservative MP (and Winston Churchill’s grandson) Nicholas Soames is voting against the Letwin amendment, and for Boris Johnson’s deal, he has just tweeted.

He joins Alistair Burt, who like Soames was expelled from the Conservative party by Boris Johnson for opposing a no-deal, in refusing to back the amendment.

It’s going to be tight.

A 29-year-old man has been arrested at the Palace of Westminster for “trespassing at a protected site”, City of Westminster Police said on Saturday.

“He has been taken to a south London police station. Enquiries ongoing,” police said on Twitter.

Responding to the incident, a spokesperson for House of Commons authorities said: “We are aware of an incident involving a visitor in a public area of the Parliamentary estate. Security staff and the Police attended and the situation has been resolved.”

A large anti-Brexit protest is ongoing around Parliament.

Take a look at the vast crowds gathering in central London, as part of a People’s Vote march demanding a second referendum on Brexit.

A handful of politicians are set to run out of the chamber and address the crowds during the afternoon, ahead of the crunch vote later.

Westminster is buzzing. Sitting just outside the reporters’ gallery, silence is sporadically broken by the cheering and jeering of lawmakers meters away. Occasionally, the noise from the anti-Brexit demonstrators who have shut down a major part of central London drifts through the windows.?

Inside Parliament, members of the public are eager to get into the public gallery to watch MPs debate the future of this country.

If you wanted an idea of how important today is: people are standing in a queue to join another queue. At the end of the second queue, you can watch the debate on television while waiting for up to four hours to take a seat in the public gallery, which holds about 100-120 people.?

Inside the debating chamber, the mood is tense. It doesn’t take much for the Brexit factions, who have been arguing now for three years, to erupt and start yelling at one another.?

It’s no doubt going to be raucous later when they actually get to vote on things.?

Outside Parliament, anti-Brexit and pro-Brexit demonstrators are paving the street. Today there happens to be an anti-Brexit rally so one side is better represented. But the streets are thick with people waving flags and holding signs.?

How today ultimately plays out remains anyone’s guess. But it’s obvious to anyone that something important is happening.?

Harriet and Michael at the Brexit march.

The common message being heard from protesters at the Brexit march in London today is a defiant one: even if lawmakers support Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s deal and Britain leaves the EU, it is not the end.

“It won’t be over. Even if they vote and we leave it won’t be over for 10 years. We’ve then got to negotiate trade deals,” one marcher named Michael tells CNN.

“I think that if we leave, we’ll end up joining again in 15, 20 years’ time, because young people like my kids believe implicitly in the EU,” he says.

“I’m really upset because it’s not just going to be a cancer for this year but it’s going to be a cancer for the next two decades.”

Harriet adds: “I’m marching mainly for my kids and my mum who lives in France, because Brexit is already destroying lives

It’s just craziness to force through legislation that’s going to damage everybody and everything in this country.”

Marchers will be listening closely when MPs vote on Johnson’s deal in the coming hours – eager to find out what the next stage in their fight will be.

Theresa May is back on her feet in the House of Commons, just a few months after she resigned as Prime Minister.

In case anyone was wondering whether she’d pull the greatest plot twist in British political history and vote down Boris Johnson’s deal – she won’t.

“It’s simple: do we want to deliver Brexit? Do we want to deliver on the result of the referendum in 2016?” she asks, questioning whether MPs “really meant it” when they voted to allow the referendum.

“If this Parliament did not mean it, then it is guilty of the most egregious con trick on the British people,” May adds.

We’re now around half an hour into debate on Oliver Letwin’s all-important amendment. Opening proceedings, the former Conservative MP explained it is intended to prevent a no-deal next week.

Following Letwin in the debate, the SNP’s Ian Blackford says “there is a very real risk that a no-deal Brexit takes place by the back door.”

All Brexit assessments show that the UK will be poorer, “no matter how we leave the European Union,” he notes, asking why the government has not done an economic impact assessment of Boris Johnson’s deal.

“It absolutely beggars belief,” Blackford adds. “Every version of Brexit is going to leave us worse.”

Still confused about the Letwin amendment and what it has to do with the Brexit withdrawal deal? Read this.

Labour's Keir Starmer.

Keir Starmer, the opposition Labour Party’s lead spokesman on Brexit, has been addressing MPs. Much of his speech has focused on the trustworthiness of the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.

Starmer notes that, when Johnson spoke at last year’s annual conference of the Democratic Unionist Party, the Northern Irish group that props up his government, he promised that no British leader would ever agree to a Brexit deal that placed a border in the Irish Sea.

Now, Starmer notes, he has done just that, by agreeing a deal that places a customs border metaphorically in the waterway that separates Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Anyone considering Johnson’s promises to maintain, for example, workers’ rights need to “reflect” on how he had treated the DUP: “Promise, then burn.”

Starmer also echoes the fear of many Labour lawmakers and some Conservatives – that a no-deal Brexit could happen at the end of the Brexit transition period in December 2020 if a free trade agreement is not concluded with the EU by then.

Johnson’s deal is a “trap door to no-deal,” Starmer said.

As lawmakers debate Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal in the Houses of Parliament, thousands of protesters are calling for a second referendum outside.

They began near Park Lane and are working their way down Whitehall, past Downing Street and ending at a rally at Parliament Square.

Organizers are expecting big numbers, and say they have hired the same number of buses – more than 170 – to bring in protesters as they did for their last March where they claimed attendance hit one million. Authorities have not given estimates of crowd sizes.

Unlike in previous iterations of this march, Parliament is sitting in a special session. So if the protesters are loud enough the members inside Westminster might just hear them.

Time for a recap. It’s just after midday in London, and lawmakers are deep into their debate on Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal – but there’s plenty of drama still to come.

There’s no certainty about when exactly the crucial votes will happen. We’re expecting them to be sometime after 2:30 p.m. local time (9:30 a.m. ET), and we may be in for a very long night.

Here’s what’s happening:

Oliver Letwin.

If the Letwin amendment passes, the government will bring a meaningful vote on the whole Withdrawal Agreement Bill on Tuesday, a senior government source told CNN.

It would force Boris Johnson to request a Brexit extension until January 31 on Saturday night, as per the Benn Act.

Letwin and his backers?– who include Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson and Labour Party backbencher Hilary Benn –?believe that without it, Brexiteers could stymie the Withdrawal Agreement Bill and the UK would “accidentally” crash out on October 31. It is an “insurance policy”, they say.

But it is not a given that the amendment will pass – Alistair Burt, an Independent ex-Conservative MP, just said in the Commons that he won’t vote for it, which suggests the vote will be tight.

On Friday morning, Boris Johnson had a spring in his step.

He’d returned from Brussels with a new Brexit withdrawal deal. Most of his own party supports it, and although Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party is withholding support, opposition lawmakers were lining up behind the deal.

Johnson was making clear to these supporters of a softer Brexit that if they don’t vote for his deal, then they make a no-deal crash out a real possibility. And for some hours, Johnson’s “my deal or no deal” gambit was working.

Then Oliver Letwin published his amendment, killing Johnson’s momentum.

The Letwin amendment essentially means that the government cannot pass the deal in full until all of the Brexit legislation has passed. Letwin says that his aim is to provide a safety net to avoid an accidental no deal.

The government thinks that it’s a plot to delay Brexit and prevent the UK from leaving the EU. They might have a point. Johnson is obliged by law to request a Brexit extension if no formal deal is agreed by the House of Commons at 11 p.m. tonight. The Letwin amendment effectively makes meeting that requirement impossible.

Letwin has presented MPs with an alternative to the “my deal or no deal” threat issued by Johnson and the government. And for now, it’s killed dead the rush of support for the Prime Minister.

Steve Barclay, the Brexit Secretary, has asked Oliver Letwin to pull his amendment, which would withhold support on Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s deal until the subsequent legislation has passed and a no-deal Brexit has been avoided.

The amendment “would render today’s vote meaningless,” says Barclay. “The public will be appalled by pointless further delay.”

“I ask my right honorable friend, in that spirit, to withdraw his amendment,” Barclay says, facing Letwin on the backbenches.

If Parliament blocks Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal on Saturday, the alternative is an election, the Prime Minister’s political spokesman said.

He says the public would expect Parliament to do whatever it takes to get Brexit done by October 31 and that a vote for the Letwin amendment is a vote for delay.

Johnson would have to table a motion to secure an election, and Parliament would have to vote for it – which they have refused to do so thus far.

Meanwhile, the PM’s spokesman said the EU believes there is enough time to ratify the deal by the deadline at the end of the month.

He added that the government’s focus is making sure the Letwin amendment doesn’t pass.

Former Prime Minister Theresa May is watching opposition MPs attack Boris Johnson’s deal in the Commons, after she failed to pass her own agreement three times.

Ian Blackford, the SNP’s Westminster leader, told the chamber Johnson’s deal is “worse” than May’s pact – which prompted a stern glare from May.

Watch the moment above.

Steve Baker, the chair or the all-important ERG group of hardline Conservative backbenchers, confirms that the bloc is supporting the deal.

Several of the group’s members, who blocked ex-PM Theresa May’s deal from passing, had previously confirmed they would support the bill.

That gives Johnson as many as 28 additional votes for his deal, putting it on the cusp of success. But just a few holdouts from within the ERG’s ranks could still prove crucial.

Boris Johnson will pull the vote on his Brexit deal later if Oliver Letwin’s amendment passes, a senior government source has told CNN.

MPs would be sent home, the source says, and the government would introduce the Withdrawal Agreement Bill – the legislation that implements the deal – to the House of Commons early next week. The source said:

What does this mean? In a sense, this could just be read as spin by Downing Street. If the Letwin amendment passes, any subsequent vote on Johnson’s deal would be moot anyway, since it has the effect of delaying ratification until the Withdrawal Agreement Bill completes all its stages in the UK Parliament. Downing Street is doing its level best to kill off the Letwin amendment and force a clean, up-or-down vote on Johnson’s deal.

“I don’t wish to be unnecessarily adversarial today,” Boris Johnson says, replying to Corbyn’s speech, but he says the leader of the opposition “won’t trust the people.”

Johnson adds that MPs should “ignore the pleadings of (Corbyn) and vote for an excellent deal.”

Ken Clarke, the longest-serving current MP who was expelled by Johnson from the Conservative Party for opposing no-deal, then asks the prime minister to assure him that he will secure a close future arrangement with the EU.

Johnson says that “those who set the agenda in Brussels … continue with a large number of federalist projects,” but pledges that there will be “increasing trade between our economies.”

Ian Blackford, the SNP Westminster leader, then bemoans the fact that Scotland was not mentioned once in the text of Johnson’s deal, despite it voting overwhelmingly to remain in the EU.

“He and his cronies in Number ten don’t care about Scotland,” Blackford says.

Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn says Prime Minister Boris Johnson has taken his predecessor Theresa May’s thrice-rejected Brexit deal “and made it worse” – adding that lawmakers “will not be duped.”

“This deal would inevitably lead to a Trump trade deal,” he adds.

“As for workers’ rights, we simply cannot give the government a blank check,” Corbyn says, quoting representatives from business groups who have warned about the impact of Johnson’s deal.

“It’s not a good deal for our country, and future generations will feel the impact. It should be voted down today by this House.

“We simply cannot vote for a deal that is even worse than the one the House rejected three times.”

Supporting the government would “fire the starting pistol in a race to the bottom,” says Corbyn.

“You cannot trust a word that he says,” says Corbyn of Johnson.

The opposition leader says that “the people should have the final say” on Brexit. “We will not back this sell-out deal.”

Boris Johnson has gone through the Northern Ireland provisions in his new Brexit deal, and is urging the House of Commons to reject another delay.

“In any future trade negotiations, with any country, our National Health Service will not be on the table,” he says, attempting to dampen fears that that would be the case in trade negotiations with the US.

“The scope for fruitful negotiation has run its course,” Johnson says.

“They said we couldn’t open the Withdrawal Agreement … they said we couldn’t abolish the backstop. We’ve done both,” he adds.

“It is now my judgement that we have reached the best possible solution,” he notes, before suggesting that further delay would be bad for both sides and may not be agreed by the EU.

“There is very little appetite” in Europe for another extension, he says. “They have had three and a half years of this debate. it has distracted them from their own projects and their own ambitions.”

Boris Johnson is speaking now, to open the crunch debate on his Brexit deal.

He notes that Parliament has gone through “a great deal of trouble to assemble here on a Saturday for the first time in a generation.”

“I do hope” we will be able to have a meaningful vote today, he adds – ?after news broke that he plans to pull the vote if the Letwin amendment passes

He then starts to frame the day as an existential and philosophical vote on Britain’s nationhood, describing the UK as a “backmarker” in the European project and saying that Brexit should be thought of in political, not economic terms.

“It has been striking that members on all sides of this House have debated Brexit in almost entirely practical terms,” he says.

Johnson describes his agreement as “a new way forward, and a new and better deal both for Britain and our friends in the EU.”

He adds he will meet with “anyone, on any side” over the course of the day to discuss the deal, adding that the House can move the country onwards by “getting Brexit done.”

The crucial debate on Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal has started in the House of Commons.

Today will absolutely, categorically determine the future of Brexit. Unless it doesn’t.

An amendment to Boris Johnson’s deal has the potential to shake everything up. The measure has been proposed by Oliver Letwin, an MP who was booted out of the Conservative parliamentary party last month when he supported anti no-deal legislation known as the Benn Act.

The amendment says the House would “withhold support” from Johnson’s plan until all of the legislation required to implement the bill is passed by Parliament as well.

It would force Johnson to request a Brexit extension on Saturday night, as per the Benn Act, and remove the risk of no deal in a few days’ time. But it still allows Johnson to pass his Brexit deal – he just has to pass all the separate parts of the Withdrawal Agreement as well.

Nick Boles, who has co-signed the amendment, suggested the vote on the amendment could be read as a political indication of whether the House would support the deal, but not as a legal endorsement of the deal. (Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson has also signed the amendment, despite being opposed to Brexit altogether).

What does this mean for Saturday??If Letwin’s amendment passes – and it enjoys support from a cross-section of parties – it would mean that Saturday?isn’t?the be-all-and-end-all. Instead, the subsequent votes on the Withdrawal Agreement in the coming weeks become all-important, because they would need to be approved if the Brexit deal is to come into effect.

What does it mean for Brexit??If the Letwin proposal comes into effect, the government’s plans to leave the EU by October 31 would be thrown into the air. Such an outcome opens up the possibility that the entire withdrawal agreement could be amended, for example with a requirement to hold a second referendum on the final outcome.

Will it pass??The amendment is signed by members of the three main political parties, including the aforementioned Hilary Benn, and the leader of the Liberal Democrats, Jo Swinson. But everything hinges on whether the Labour leadership decides to swing its entire bloc behind it. The Guardian’s political editor, who is well connected in Labour circles,?thinks it might, as does?Bloomberg.

Boris Johnson’s battle to pass his Brexit deal is certain to come down to just a few votes. There are three crucial blocs of lawmakers in play:

Johnson appears to have won over most of the hardliners, and a number of independents also seem to have been swayed. It could all come down to how many Labour MPs he can convince; around 10 could be enough.

Welcome to what might be?one of the most important days?in British political history.

Earlier this week, Boris Johnson did the near impossible and secured a new Brexit deal from the European Union.

Astonishingly, after months of saying that Theresa May’s deal could not be changed,?the EU shocked everyone?by throwing out the controversial Irish border backstop and?replacing it with an alternative plan, cooked up by team Johnson.

Even more astonishingly, EU leaders seem happy with this deal and have been effusive about Johnson – the man with whom they dreaded negotiating.

However impressive Johnson’s Brussels victory might be, securing it could turn out to be the easiest bit of the Brexit process.

The UK Parliament is sitting on a Saturday for the first time in decades, where lawmakers will give Johnson the thumbs up or thumbs down. The immediate fallout of that vote could have profound consequences for the future of the United Kingdom.

After three and a half years of agonising debate, Saturday could be the day that Brexit is secured.

Boris Johnson is bringing his new deal to a vote in Parliament in an emergency Saturday sitting – just the fifth time in history that lawmakers have met on the weekend.

And unlike Theresa May, he might just have the numbers to pass it.

If he doesn’t, all hell breaks loose – with Johnson mandated by law to request a Brexit delay, and a winter general election becoming very likely.

If he does, Britain will be set to leave the EU in just a few days’ time on October 31.

Meanwhile, an amendment to the bill has the potential to change everything, and leave us all scratching our heads for another few days.

Either way, prepare for a passionate debate and a razor-tight vote on Super Saturday.