Shropshire Star

MPs in Shropshire and Mid Wales split over Brexit vote - see how they voted

MPs in Shropshire and Mid Wales were split over last night’s vote with one saying those who blocked Theresa’s May’s deal had opened up the path for no Brexit at all.

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Theresa May's EU withdrawal deal was rejected by MPs by an overwhelming majority for a second time, with just 17 days to go to Brexit.

MPs voted down the prime minister's deal by 149 – a smaller margin than when they rejected it in January.

The Commons will now vote this evening on whether they are willing for the UK to leave the EU without a deal on March 29.

Among those who voted against the deal last night were Telford MP Lucy Allan, Shrewsbury MP Daniel Kawczynski and leading Brexiteer and North Shrophire MP Owen Paterson.

Ludlow MP Philip Dunne and Glyn Davies, MP for Montgomeryshire, both voted for the deal.

Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard, who also clashed with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn during a debate on the issue in the House of Commons, supported the deal, but said he did so “unenthusiastically”.

He said the Prime Minister was “very good” at a parliamentary meeting of backbenchers held ahead of last night’s vote.

He added: “I did not support the withdrawal agreement in January. Her new assurances over the Irish backstop aren’t perfect but they are a significant improvement. So I will unenthusiastically support the deal.”

Mr Davies said he could not understand Conservative MPs wanting to vote against the agreement.

He said: “I have always been very supportive of the withdrawal agreement. I have been very consistent in terms of what I think since 1975. I thought we should leave on the best possible terms for us and our EU partners.

"I find it very difficult to understand the thinking of any Conservative MP who does not take the same view. I just think those who were not willing to support the deal Mrs May brought back, the consequences are that there will be no Brexit at all.”

Mr Paterson said his fear that the UK would have no unilateral right to leave the arrangement if the UK and the EU were unable to agree had been confirmed by Geoffrey Cox the Attorney General.

“I questioned the Attorney General in the House and he admitted that the legal risk remained unchanged,” he said.

“The deal does not provide any exit mechanism from the Protocol which is under the UK’s control.”

Ms Allan said: “My constituents voted strongly to leave. I feel a deep sense of duty to my constituents, not least because too often no one listens to them and too often those in power act as if they do not matter.

“We have seen it with the plans for our hospital, we have seen it in the response to CSE and we see it with Brexit.

“As the representative of Telford people, I cannot in good conscience collude with the dismissing of my constituents’ voice.”

Mr Kawczynski added: “I spent the weekend in my constituency knocking on doors and canvassing opinion.

"They believe that what Mrs May has negotiated is the worst of all worlds because it keeps us as a vassal state of the European Union, whilst not fulfilling what they voted for.”