Brexit: Number 10 says MPs will "very likely" vote on final deal

Comments come as government fights legal challenge arguing it it does not have the power to trigger Article 50 without the consent of parliament


By Emilio Casalicchio

19 Oct 2016

MPs will “very likely” get to vote on the final Brexit deal between the UK and the European Union, Downing Street has said.

Number 10 confirmed that the comment made by a lawyer during a High Court action on Brexit was “the government's view”.

Campaigners welcomed the comments but repeated calls for a debate and a vote on the triggering of negotiations, as well as afterwards.


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The government is currently fighting a legal challenge which argues it does not have the power to trigger Article 50 and set negotiations in motion without the consent of parliament.

Government lawyer James Eadie QC argued during the High Court case that MPs would probably get to vote on the final deal but not at the beginning of the process.

"The government view at the moment is it is very likely that any such agreement will be subject to ratification," he said.

But Lord Pannick, who is representing the campaigners, argued parliament would be unable to “reverse” Brexit, even even if MPs rejected the deal.

Labour's shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said: "A vote so late in the day would put MPs between a rock and a hard place.

“It would ask us to choose between a deal on the government's terms or leaving the European Union with no deal at all."

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