The Second Article 50 Vote

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It is deeply disappointing that the Prime Minister chose to ignore Labour’s amendments last night, and that so few Conservative MPs were willing to do the right thing.Labour's amendments would have given much needed certainty for the 3 million EU nationals living in the UK, and ensured there is a meaningful vote on the Article 50 deal – including, crucially, if the Prime Minister fails to reach an agreement.I voted for these amendments last night that started in the Commons back in February, and Labour peers tabled and voted for them previously in the House of Lords.But it’s clear the Prime Minister is more obsessed with getting a clean Bill rather than considering the merits of our amendments. By doing so, she is putting pride ahead of principle. It is not the right way to approach such a vital issue and sets a worrying precedent for the negotiations. It takes the UK into deeply troubling and uncertain territory. Even those who voted to leave the EU last June didn't vote for a weaker economy, jobs to be cut, prices to rise and their rights at work and as consumers to be curtailed. Yet all are happening or are a real risk. The Government has a responsibility to protect jobs rights and living standards- which means an extraordinarily complicated balancing act. So far ministers are failing to get even the simplest things right.Teresa May's assertion that "no deal is better than a bad deal" completely underestimates the massive damage that falling back on basic WTO rules for trade with the EU will have on Britain's economy.And we are all really worried about the Government's failure to guarantee rights to EU citizens who already live in the UK, a million in London. They should be given a cast-iron guaranteed of their right to stay here post-Brexit, for the sake of their families here, their employers and their personal well-being.We are in for very troubled times, and I will do what I can to expose what Brexit, and particularly a "Hard Brexit" will mean here in this constituency.More about the vote could be found here: https://commonsvotes.digiminster.com/

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