Brexit: MPs vote by 358 to 234 to pass the withdrawal agreement bill – live news | Politics

Here’s a nice interactive showing how each MP voted in the withdrawal agreement bill vote this afternoon.

In more news regarding alleged ministerial code breaches …

Former Tory MP Mark Field is found to have breached the code by using force against a climate change protester at a black-tie City dinner. Field, who stood down from parliament after being suspended as a Foreign Office minister, grabbed a Greenpeace activist, Janet Barker, by the neck and forced her out of the event.

The Cabinet Office investigation found that he had to make a “split-second decision” and “had the option of simply blocking her way” during the incident in London’s Mansion House in June.

You can read more here –

A Cabinet Office investigation into Tory MP Alun Cairns, who quit the Cabinet during the election campaign, has not upheld allegations of a breach of the ministerial code, the PA news agency reports.

The former Welsh secretary announced he was standing down from the Cabinet last month over his links to a Conservative candidate accused of sabotaging a rape trial. The report, published today, found it “unlikely” that the MP was not told anything about his former staff member’s role, but concluded that the evidence did not support the allegations of a breach.

You can read the full story here –

Six Labour members voted for the bill – Sarah Champion, Rosie Cooper, Jon Cruddas, Emma Lewell-Buck, Grahame Morris, Toby Perkins. Here is Lewell-Buck’s speech, in which she says that it is with a heavy heart that she has decided she couldn’t vote with the Labour party.

Some Labour MPs have written on Twitter about why they decided to abstain in this afternoon’s vote. Sharon Hodgson, MP for Washington and Sunderland West, said she had always said she would not vote for a form of Brexit that would harm those she represented, but she recognised that her constituents wanted to see the UK leave the EU.

Foreign secretary Dominic Raab has responded to the announcement by the Crown Prosecution Service that they will be charging the wife of a US intelligence officer with causing the death by dangerous driving of the 19-year-old motorcyclist Harry Dunn.

I welcome the taking of a charging decision which is an important step towards justice for Harry and towards solace for his family, but it is not the end. I hope that Anne Sacoolas will now realise the right thing to do is to come back to the UK and cooperate with the criminal justice process.

This is from BBC political correspondent Iain Watson. He says as many as 30 Labour MPs abstained or stayed away from the vote on the Brexit bill this afternoon.

You can read our story on the passage of the withdrawal agreement bill at second reading here. The Guardian’s political editor Heather Stewart writes:

Parliament has passed a historic milestone towards leaving the European Union, backing Boris Johnson’s Brexit bill by a thumping majority of 124, a week after the Conservatives won a landslide victory in the general election.

After comfortably passing its second reading by 358 votes to 234, the withdrawal agreement bill is on track to complete its passage through both houses of parliament in time to allow Britain to leave the European Union at the end of January.

The clear support for the bill marked a decisive break with the parliamentary gridlock that marked the past two years.

The programme motion has been passed by 353 votes to 243.

The deputy speaker wishes members a very peaceful Christmas and they file out.

There is now an adjournment debate on the “progress of Southend towards city status” and then parliament breaks up til 7 January.

The Telegraph’s Asa Bennett has tweeted some pictures of the prime minister signing copies of the withdrawal agreement bill for MPs:

This, from the Mirror’s deputy political editor Ben Glaze:

MPs are now voting on the programme motion, which sets out the timetable for getting the bill through parliament by 31 January.

It’s a good time to share another explainer on what happens after the Brexit bill passes. (Spoiler alert – Brexit will not be done.)

Some reaction from political journalists –

MPs have voted on the government’s withdrawal agreement bill at the second reading. With Boris Johnson’s 80-strong majority, the bill was passed by a comfortable margin, with 358 voting for and 234 against.

Here’s an explainer from Guardian Brexit correspondent Lisa O’Carroll on what’s new in this version of the bill:

Today’s vote means MPs have approved the general principles of the bill and it will now move to what is known as “committee stage”, where a more detailed examination takes place. Here’s a guide as to what happens next from parliament’s website.