UK Plans Second Attempt to Pass PM Boris Johnson’s Brexit Deal

LONDON: The UK government on Monday will make a second attempt to hold a meaningful vote, presenting MPs with a straight choice to approve or oppose Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal in principle. Whether Parliament Speaker, John Bercow, will allow the vote was not yet clear. There were chances that he could rule it out on the grounds that it amounted to debating the same matter twice, the BBC reported.

The development comes after MPs in a historic Saturday session in the House of Commons voted 322 to 306 in favour of an amendment withholding the approval of Johnson’s deal until all the necessary legislation was completed. Tabled by Conservative MP Oliver Letwin, the amendment was intended to ensure that Johnson would comply with the terms of the Benn Act, passed by MPs last month which requires the Prime Minister to seek a Brexit extension. Johnson’s Brexit deal ditches the backstop - the “insurance policy” designed to prevent a return to physical checks on the Irish border, the BBC reported. Instead it will, in effect, draw a new customs border in the Irish Sea, because goods which could then travel onwards to Ireland will have to pay a duty tax. The whole of the UK will leave the EU customs union, meaning it could strike trade deals with other countries in the future. (IANS)

Also Read: Brexit Deal Agreed by the European Union and UK

Also Watch: Illegal IMFL liquors seized by Excise Department in Tezpur