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As it happenedended

Government defeated in key Brexit vote - here's how the day unfolded

Follow all the latest updates from the Commons live

Ashley Cowburn,Tom Peck
Wednesday 13 December 2017 04:40 EST
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The Government has been defeated by Conservative rebels and Labour MPs in a critical vote on its key piece of Brexit legislation.

MPs amended the EU Withdrawal Bill against Theresa May's will, so guaranteeing Parliament a "meaningful" vote on any Brexit deal she agrees with Brussels.

Ms May's whips applied heavy pressure on Conservative rebels who remained defiant in the Commons throughout the day and in the end the Government was defeated by 309 votes to 305, a margin of just four votes.

Here is how the day unfolded.

Grieve has suggested he and the Government have run out of road over his call for a meaningful vote on any Brexit deal.

The MP said what happens in such circumstances is "all rational discourse starts to evaporate", adding the purpose of his amendment is "entirely lost in a confrontation" in which it is suggested he is seeking to "sabotage" the will of the people.

Mr Grieve said this is not the case, adding there has been hurling of public abuse - including "startling" comments from party colleagues, such as Iain Duncan Smith's claim that he was grandstanding.

Ashley Cowburn13 December 2017 14:55

Ashley Cowburn13 December 2017 15:00

According to the London Evening Standard, one female MP was "reduced to tears" by a male Tory party whip ahead of the crucial vote this evening on the Brexit legislation. 

The Conservative MP Anna Soubry told the newspaper: "It is right that whips should exert pressure, cajole people - that's perfectly proper in my view. 

"But bullying, reducing colleagues to tears to tears and making them shake is not acceptable. We are the Conservative party, not the Momentum thugs.

Ashley Cowburn13 December 2017 15:14
Ashley Cowburn13 December 2017 15:26

Conservative MP Antoinette @Sandbach tells eurosceptics to pipe down and let other MP speak.

Joe Watts13 December 2017 15:40

Leaving Brexit to one side, a female Labour activist has accused the party of failing to show "respect, seriousness and transparency" in handling her complaint of inappropriate behaviour by a veteran MP, after it missed its self-imposed deadline for a decision.

Labour told Ava Etemadzadeh she would be informed by December 13 whether her complaint against Kelvin Hopkins would be taken to a full hearing of the party's National Constitutional Committee.

But it emerged on Wednesday that the decision will not now be made until the New Year.

Ms Etemadzadeh, 27, claims that the 76-year-old Luton North MP acted inappropriately and sent her suggestive text messages after they met at a student event in 2014 - something which he categorically denies.

Here are her comments on Twitter:

Lizzy Buchan13 December 2017 15:45

Ashley Cowburn13 December 2017 15:53
Ashley Cowburn13 December 2017 16:02

Mr Grieve told the Commons he would not back down and "we seem to have frankly run out of road" in efforts to get the Government to give way.

Downing Street insisted it had responded to concerns raised by MPs.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "We have, in good faith, come forward with a strong package of concessions to deal with the spirit of the amendment."

Ashley Cowburn13 December 2017 16:18
Ashley Cowburn13 December 2017 16:32

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