Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union Related: Women Parliamentary votes on Brexit, sometimes referred to as "meaningful votes", were the parliamentary votes under the terms of Section 13 of the United Kingdom's European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, which requires the government of the United Kingdom to bring forward an amendable parliamentary motion at the end of the Article 50 negotiations between the government and the European Union in order to ratify the Brexit withdrawal agreement.

This led to a series of non-binding "indicative votes" on potential options for Brexit, and the delay of the departure date until after the 2019 general election.

[4] Gina Miller, a British businesswoman, took the government to court to challenge its authority to invoke Article 50 without reference to Parliament.

[5][6] In January 2017 the Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May announced, "I can confirm today that the Government will put the final deal that is agreed between the UK and the EU to a vote in both Houses of Parliament, before it comes into force.

[10] On 18 April 2017 Theresa May announced a snap general election for 8 June 2017,[11] with the aim of strengthening her hand in Brexit negotiations.

[18] Clause 9 was then introduced to the house as follows (Grieve's additions, amendment 7, in italics): At the weekend prior to the Commons vote on the amendment, the leaders of the all-party parliamentary group on EU relations signed a statement saying, "Members of all parties have already provided valuable scrutiny to the EU (Withdrawal) bill, and we have forced the government into some concessions.

"[20][21] On the morning of 13 December 2017 Davis issued a written statement saying, "In the UK, the Government has committed to hold a vote on the final deal in Parliament as soon as possible after the negotiations have concluded.

This vote will take the form of a resolution in both Houses of Parliament and will cover both the Withdrawal Agreement and the terms for our future relationship.

[27][28] Twelve Conservative MPs voted against the government: Grieve, Soubry, Heidi Allen, Kenneth Clarke, Jonathan Djanogly, Stephen Hammond, Oliver Heald, Nicky Morgan, Bob Neill, Antoinette Sandbach, John Stevenson and Sarah Wollaston.

[26] A month earlier, all but Stevenson were pictured along with fellow Conservative MPs Vicky Ford, Jeremy Lefroy, Paul Masterton and Tom Tugendhat on the front page of the Daily Telegraph describing them as "The Brexit Mutineers".

[41][43] The morning also saw Phillip Lee's surprise resignation as a junior Tory minister saying, "If, in the future, I am to look my children in the eye and honestly say that I did my best for them I cannot, in all good conscience, support how our country’s current exit from the EU looks set to be delivered.

[51] Speaking the day after the vote, in the Commons at Prime Minister's Questions, May said, "We have seen concerns raised about the role of Parliament in relation to the Brexit process.

This morning, I have agreed with the Brexit Secretary that we will bring forward an amendment in the Lords, and there are a number of things that will guide our approach in doing so... As my right hon.

Grieve had originally wanted the amendment to say that the government must seek the approval of Parliament for its course of action, and that ministers must be directed by MPs and peers.

[66] As a result, Grieve tabled an amendment to the business motion addressing the procedure in the event parliament votes down the deal.

[2] The success of Grieve's amendment (passed 321 votes to 299) means MPs can now change that motion,[65] giving them far greater say over the UK's exit from the EU.

The five independent MPs who voted against the deal were John Woodcock, Jared O'Mara, Kelvin Hopkins, Ivan Lewis, and Fiona Onasanya, all of whom had been elected as Labour.

[79][80] Ayes (202) Noes (432) Abstentions (1) In the immediate aftermath, Leader of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn called for a vote of no confidence in the government, which was held on 16 January 2019.

[81] Section 13 of the 2018 Act required that the government put down a motion, in neutral terms, in response to the written statements made by the prime minister on 21 and 24 January, in which she set out her "Plan B".

[87] This was followed, on 14 February, by a vote on an amendable motion in the following terms: "That this House welcomes the Prime Minister’s statement of 12 February 2019; reiterates its support for the approach to leaving the EU expressed by this House on 29 January 2019 and notes that discussions between the UK and the EU on the Northern Ireland backstop are ongoing."'

The 21 MPs were Guto Bebb, Richard Benyon, Steve Brine, Alastair Burt, Greg Clark, Ken Clarke, David Gauke, Justine Greening, Dominic Grieve, Sam Gyimah, Philip Hammond, Stephen Hammond, Richard Harrington, Margot James, Letwin, Anne Milton, Caroline Nokes, Antoinette Sandbach, Nicholas Soames, Rory Stewart and Ed Vaizey.

[124] Later the same day MPs subsequently rejected Johnson's motion to call an October general election, failing to achieve the two-thirds Commons majority needed under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act, in a vote of 298 to 56.

[126] On the same day, MPs backed a motion calling for the publication of all government communications relating to no-deal Brexit planning and the suspension of Parliament, voting 311 to 302.

[127] A second government motion calling for an early general election failed to achieve the required super-majority, with 293 MPs voting in favour of it.

[141] On 21 October the Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow refused a government request to hold a vote on the Brexit deal, citing their previous decision to withdraw it.

[142] On the evening of 19 October, 10 Downing Street confirmed that Boris Johnson would send a letter to the EU requesting an extension, but would not sign it.

[143] On 21 October, the government published the Withdrawal Agreement Bill and proposed three days of debate for opposition MPs to scrutinise it.

[146] The government brought the recently revised EU Withdrawal Bill to the House of Commons for debate on the evening of 22 October 2019.

Prior to the votes, Johnson had stated that if his timetable failed to generate the support needed to pass in parliament he would abandon attempts to get the deal approved and would seek a general election.

[155][156][157] On 20 December 2019, immediately after the state opening of Parliament following the 2019 United Kingdom general election (in which the Conservative Party secured a large majority of 80 seats), the Government presented another Bill to ratify its draft withdrawal agreement.