THE VOTES in Parliament on amendments to Theresa May’s Brexit deal saw the counter-revolutionary plots by MPs from all parties to smash the 2016 referendum result comprehensively defeated.
All seven amendments accepted by the speaker, John Bercow, for debate were in one way or another designed to keep Britain tied indefinitely to the EU. The Labour leadership came out openly for the first time for delaying Brexit when they imposed a three-line whip on their MPs to vote for an amendment tabled jointly by right-wing Labour MP Yvette Cooper and Tory MP Nick Boles to delay Brexit by nine months with a view to extending it indefinitely after that if Parliament rejected any deal May was able to get from the EU. This amendment was lost by 23 votes.
The official Labour amendment tabled by Corbyn demanded that there must be no ‘no-deal’ Brexit and that Britain remain permanently in some form of customs union with the EU – in effect keeping the UK bound by the rules of the EU but without any say in these rules or how they are applied. This was defeated by 31 votes.
An amendment proposed by the Tory former attorney general Dominic Grieve called for Parliament to take complete control of the negotiations and decision away from the government, in the knowledge that the vast majority of MPs across the House of Commons are determined to remain. This was defeated by 30 votes.
A further amendment for a two-year extension to Article 50 was defeated by 32 votes. Amendments tabled by Labour backbenchers and LibDems calling for a second referendum, the so-called ‘people’s vote’, didn’t even get debated.
The only two amendments passed were an advisory one with no legislative force stating that the UK will not leave the EU without a deal (passed by eight votes) and one from the leading Tory chair of the powerful 1922 committee Graham Brady.
Following her humiliating defeat two weeks ago, May was forced to drop her previous position that it was ‘her deal or no deal’ and throw her weight behind this amendment which instructs her to renegotiate her Brexit deal by dumping the ‘backstop’ and return to the Commons as soon as possible with a revised deal.
It didn’t take the EU leaders more than a few minutes to tell her she was wasting her time with Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, bluntly telling her: ‘The Withdrawal Agreement is not open to renegotiation.’
This leaves May in the position of begging for help from the EU while parliament has determined that there must be a deal at all costs. When she returns with no concessions the only choice she can put before parliament is leave with no deal or stay forever in the EU.
The fear that the working class would rise up against parliament dominated on Tuesday night and exploded all the amendments designed to overthrow the referendum result and carry out a counter-revolution against leaving the EU.
Any attempt by MPs to come out after May returns from Brussels with just the option to openly defy the Brexit vote will see workers and youth making this fear a reality.
At present the working class have only made their feelings felt verbally to MPs, enough to see off the counter-revolution on Tuesday.
An attempt to overthrow the referendum will be met by workers and youth coming out on the streets demanding an end to the charade of bourgeois parliamentary democracy and imposing their will on the bourgeoisie through a socialist revolution.
There is only one way for the referendum result to be carried out. This is by the working class marching on the bourgeois parliament to insist that the UK leaves the EU on March 29th, and then dealing with any bourgeois counter-revolution by advancing to a workers’ government.
A workers government will deal with the threat by the bosses and bankers to leave Britain by helping them on their way after expropriating the industries and banks, and putting them under the management of the working class in a planned socialist economy. This will have the overwhelming support of the workers and youth throughout Europe and it will open the floodgates of socialist revolution throughout the
continent.
