May’s party denies ‘cheating’ in Brexit parliament vote

LONDON: Britain’s ruling Conservative party rejected accusations of dirty tricks on Wednesday after breaking a voting pact with an opposition MP on maternity leave on a crucial piece of Brexit legislation. Liberal Democrat deputy leader Jo Swinson, who gave birth to a boy last month, accused the government of “cheating” the system as it sought to win two knife-edge votes on Tuesday night. “Just how low will your government stoop?” she raged on Twitter. Prime Minister Theresa May said her party’s failure to uphold the so-called pairing deal was “done in error”, but admitted it was “not good enough” and would not happen again.

Pairing is an informal agreement between MPs in opposing parties not to take part in a vote, thus allowing one of them to miss it without affecting the outcome. Organised by the whips, who enforce party discipline, it is crucial for MPs who are ill or on maternity leave, as there is no system of proxy voting in parliament. Swinson was “paired” with Conservative MP Brandon Lewis during Tuesday’s votes on future trade policy after Brexit. He abstained in some votes earlier in the day but took part in two in the evening, one of which the government lost and the other of which it won by just six votes. Swinson said it was a “calculated, deliberate breaking of trust by government whips... to win at all costs”. Chief whip Julian Smith apologised for the “mistake”, as did Lewis, and May told MPs that “we take pairing very seriously”.

‘Not too late to save Brexit’: ex-foreign secretary Johnson: Former British foreign minister Boris Johnson urged the government Wednesday to change its strategy for leaving the European Union, telling MPs in a rousing speech it was “not too late to save Brexit”. He warned that Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan for close economic ties — over which he and Brexit secretary David Davis quit last week — “is BRINO, or Brexit in name only”. In his first speech to the House of Commons since resigning, where he was flanked by supporters including Davis, Johnson said May could still change course. “It is not too late to save Brexit. We have time in these negotiations. We have changed tack once and we can change again,” he said. But he added a deal must be struck now, saying it was “nonsense” that Britain could agree a compromise now that it could later unpick. With May’s plan “we are volunteering for economic vassalage”, he said.