LONDON: The British government won a key vote in Parliament on its flagship Brexit legislation on Wednesday, but remains locked in a tussle with lawmakers over the direction of the country’s departure from the European Union.

The House of Commons rejected by a vote of 319-303 a proposal to make the government get Parliament’s approval before agreeing to a final divorce deal with the EU or before walking away from the bloc without an agreement.

Since a majority of lawmakers favour retaining close ties with the bloc, that would have reduced the chances of a “no deal” Brexit, a scenario that is feared by UK businesses but favoured by some eurosceptic members of Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative minority government, who want a clean break with the bloc.

May faced rebellion last week from pro-EU Conservative legislators, but avoided defeat by promising Parliament would get a “meaningful vote” on the UK-EU divorce agreement before Brexit occurs next March.

The rebels sought to amend the flagship EU Withdrawal Bill so they could send the government back to the negotiating table if they don’t like the deal, or if talks with the EU break down.

The government claimed that would undermine its negotiating hand with the EU. “You cannot enter a negotiation without the right to walk away,” Brexit Secretary David Davis told lawmakers. “If you do, it rapidly ceases to be a negotiation.”

But Davis also told lawmakers it would be for the Commons speaker to decide whether lawmakers could amend any motion on a Brexit deal that was put to the House of Commons.

The concession was enough to get Conservative lawmaker Dominic Grieve, a leader of the pro-EU rebel faction, to back down and say he would support the government. Grieve said the government had acknowledged “the sovereignty of this place [Parliament] over the executive”.

Wednesday’s vote means the EU Withdrawal Bill intended to replace thousands of EU rules and regulations with UK statute on the day Britain leaves the bloc has cleared one of its last major hurdles to becoming law.

But the government faces more tumult in Parliament in the months to come over other pieces of Brexit legislation.

A paper setting out the UK government position on future relations, due to be published this month, has been delayed until July because the Cabinet cannot agree on a united stance.

Published in Dawn, June 21st, 2018