British MPs will only get a meaningful vote 2 weeks before the UK is due to exit the EU, Theresa May says
- British MPs will not be able to have a say on Theresa May's Brexit deal until March 12.
- This leaves little more than two weeks until Britain is due to exit the EU for good, on March 29.
- In the meantime, MPs will vote on Wednesday for alternative Brexit plans.
- Labour's Yvette Cooper and Conservative politician Oliver Letwin want to push for a delay to Brexit entirely.
- Other Labour MPs want a second referendum.
British MPs will not be able to have a say on Theresa May's Brexit deal until March 12, the Prime Minister has said.
Speaking to reporters in transit to Sharm el Sheikh, where she will have further Brexit talks according to The Independent, May said no meaningful vote on the country's withdrawal from the European Union would take place in the House of Commons this week.
This is because between the meetings between the EU and Arab league leaders, together with a visit to Brussels on Tuesday, there is simply no time to hold a vote, May said.
This means that any meaningful vote by March 12 would take place just two weeks before Britain is due to exit the EU for good, on March 29.
"I was in Brussels last week," May said, according to The Independent. "Ministers were in Brussels last week. My team will be back in Brussels again this coming week. They will be returning to Brussels on Tuesday.
"As a result of that we won't bring a meaningful vote to Parliament this week. But we will ensure that that happens by March 12. But it is still within our grasp to leave the European Union with a deal on March 29."
In the meantime, MPs will vote on Wednesday for alternative Brexit plans. Labour's Yvette Cooper and Conservative politician Oliver Letwin want to push for a delay to Brexit entirely, The Independent reports.
Other Labour MPs are "moving closer" to a second referendum, the BBC said.
The shadow chancellor John McDonnell said: "There's increasingly large numbers of people who will consider now moving towards a public vote situation to block a no deal, and to block a bad deal, that Theresa May's deal is - that will be the vote of this coming week."
Speaking on BBC's Andrew Marr programme on Sunday, Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson added that they are "heading in that direction" of a second referendum, but "there is still more play in the days ahead."