Brexit: DUP won’t vote for deal that ‘drives coach and horses’ through Good Friday agreement – live news | Politics

The government has lost the first vote on the Saturday sitting. Sir Oliver Letwin’s amendment (see 1.29pm) was passed by 287 votes to 275 – a majority of 12.

Explaining his amendment in the debate Letwin said this would allow the government motion on Saturday to be amended. He implied it would allow MPs to insist on Boris Johnson requesting an extension anyway, and only withdrawing that request when the legislation for his deal has passed.

The purpose of the amendment here is very simple, it is to permit amendments to be moved, if selected by [the Speaker], on Saturday, and be voted upon.

And that will enable those of us, like me, who wish to support and carry through and eventually see the ratification of this deal, not to put us in the position of allowing the government off the Benn Act hook on Saturday, but only at a time when the bill has been taken through both Houses of Parliament and legislated on.

Letwin was referring to a loophole in the Benn Act which means Johnson only has to send a letter requesting an extension if MPs fail to pass a motion backing a deal by Saturday. In theory they could pass that motion, but then fail to pass the withdrawal agreement legislation, which would mean the UK leaving without a deal on 31 October.

The Letwin amendment should also make it possible for MPs to table an amendment saying Johnson’s deal should be subject to a second referendum. (See 9.13am.)

After the vote on the amendment, the motion as amended was approved without a vote.

Iain Duncan Smith, the Tory Brexiter and former party leader, told the BBC’s Daily Politics that he had not decided yet whether he would vote for this deal. As the BBC reports, he explained:

I want to know how quickly can we get to a free trade agreement, how quickly can we therefore get out, what incentive is there for the EU to do this quickly? And is the political declaration exclusively for free trade?

In the Commons MPs are now debating the government business motion saying they sit on Saturday.

Opening the debate Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, said that Boris Johnson would make a statement to MPs on Saturday about the new Brexit agreement. Only after that statement would MPs start the debate on it.

Rees-Mogg said MPs would then vote either on a motion to back the deal, or on one to approve no deal. He explained:

The debate that follows will be a motion to either approve a deal or to approve a no-deal exit.

That debate on one or other of those motions would run for up to 90 minutes under the existing rules of this House.

In the event of a motion to approve a deal, that motion, if passed, will meet the terms both of the European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act [aka, the Benn Act] and of section 13 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act.

The government has not published the motion it is tabling for Saturday.

The debate is scheduled to last 90 minutes.

Sir Oliver Letwin, the Tory former cabinet minister who has been leading efforts to ensure MPs block a no-deal Brexit, has tabled an amendment to the business motion allowing the debate on Saturday to last longer and also allowing more amendments to be put to a vote.

Rees-Mogg claimed that the Letwin amendment could actually shorten the debate because, if Johnson’s statement went on for hours, under the Letwin procedure there would be less than 90-minutes left for the main debate.

But John Bercow, the Speaker, contradicted Rees-Mogg. He said he had the discretion to allow the debate to over-run and he said there was “no way on Earth” he would let it be shortened in the way Rees-Mogg was suggesting.

Here is the key extract from the DUP’s statement.

These arrangements will become the settled position in these areas for Northern Ireland. This drives a coach and horses through the professed sanctity of the Belfast agreement.

For all of these reasons it is our view that these arrangements would not be in Northern Ireland’s long-term interests. Saturday’s vote in parliament on the proposals will only be the start of a long process to get any withdrawal agreement bill through the House of Commons.

Here is the text of Michel Barnier’s opening statement at his press conference earlier. And here are the key points from the opening and the Q&A.

• Barnier said that the new deal could be ratified before 31 October. That would be necessary for Boris Johnson to be able to fulfil his pledge to take the UK out of the EU on 31 October. Barnier stressed that the agreement was only a draft, and that it would not be ratified at the summit today. But he also said:

I am confident [the agreement] can be supported and ratified in the time between now and 31 October.

• He confirmed that the DUP would not have a veto on whether the new arrangements for Northern Ireland came into force. (See 11.16am.) Explaining what the agreement now says about the issue of consent, which is different from what Johnson was proposing earlier this month, Barnier said:

Four years after the entry into force of the protocol, the elected representatives of Northern Ireland will be able to decide, by simple majority, whether to continue applying relevant Union rules in Northern Ireland or not.

• He said Johnson told Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European commission, he was confident MPs would pass his deal. Barnier said:

Mr Johnson said to President Juncker this morning he has faith in his ability to convince the majority he needs in the House of Commons. He said, based on this agreement and the explanations he intends to give, he has confidence in his ability to win that vote.

• Barnier refused to speculate on whether the EU would be willing to make a fresh offer to the UK if MPs voted down this plan.

Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister in charge of no-deal planning, told Sky News that this deal was not a betrayal of the DUP. Asked if the government had thrown the DUP under the bus, he replied: “Absolutely not, this is a great deal.”

Asked what would happen if MPs rejected the deal on Saturday, he said: “We don’t contemplate defeat.”