Brexit no-deal: How Shropshire and Mid Wales MPs voted

As the House of Commons took part in another vote on the tortuous road to a possible divorce from the EU, MPs in Shropshire and Mid Wales considered just how the process could develop.

Last night’s focus was on the prospect of a no deal Brexit, coming just a day after Theresa May’s suggested Withdrawal Agreement was overwhelmingly rejected.

In last night’s ballot Telford MP Lucy Allan, North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson, Montgomeryshire MP Glyn Davies, and Shrewsbury & Atcham MP Daniel Kawczynski all voted to keep no-deal on the table.

Ms Allan, Mr Kawczynski, and Mr Davies all said that abandoning the threat of no-deal would weaken the government’s negotiating hand with the EU.

Ahead of the Commons vote, many of them outlined their position and explained their reasoning.

Reasonable

Ms Allan said: “I will be voting to keep ‘no deal’ as an option, as we leave the EU. Any party to an agreement must be prepared to walk away.”

Mr Kawczynski said: “I will be voting to keep No Deal with EU on table this ev voting to take this option off table must question the impact this will have on our ability to finally secure reasonable arrangement with EU.”

And their Montgomeryshire counterpart added: “It is a funny position to be in for me because I am totally opposed to leaving the EU with no-deal. I think it would be damaging but I also think it is crackers to take no deal off the table during the negotiation.

“I will vote not to take it off the table desperately hoping it does not happen.”

Mr Paterson, a member of the pro-Brexit European Research Group, has suggested the government now follow the ‘Malthouse Plan B’ as a means to leave the EU.

He said: “In this scenario, both the EU and UK agree to minimise any disruption, ensuring that trade continues without the withdrawal agreement.”

Standstill

Malthouse B, would apply if renegotiation failed.

It would involve leaving without a deal, signing up to a two-year “standstill agreement” with the EU and then moving to World Trade Organisation terms.

The North Shropshire Conservative MP also said that removing no-deal as an option would impact on negotiations over a deal.

He said: “Malthouse B provides a clear route forward. It delivers Brexit on time and is without prejudice to the nature of the final agreement. MPs must bear this in mind if they are tempted to take no deal off the table in the vote. That would remove all the compression from future negotiations. Worse still would be a vote to extend the Article 50 period. In practical terms, it is completely unclear what that would resolve, or if the EU would even agree to it. But, more than that, it would utterly shatter public trust in parliamentary democracy.”

He added: “If MPs do not take the path offered by Malthouse B and opt instead to drag on the uncertainty with an extension, the public verdict will be simple: on the single biggest issue of the age, parliament could not be trusted to deliver what people wanted.”

Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard has meanwhile called for a renewed attempt to get Theresa May’s deal through Parliament.

He said: “Brexit must be delivered. The will of the people must be respected. I hope a deal can still be done that leads to an orderly Brexit. However, time is running out. One way to take no deal off the table is to vote for the Prime Minister’s improved deal. A third and final vote on a deal could be on March 26.”