Iran Press/Europe: A series of Brexit amendments were voted on Wednesday by MPs in Parliament, including the conditional postponement of Brexit.
According to one amendment, the government will be committing the UK to extend Article 50 if MPs vote to delay Brexit, Daily Express reported.
The amendment was passed with 502 votes to 20.
The other amendments included moves to rule out a no-deal scenario and backing of a second referendum. Pressure is now mounting for the Prime Minister Theresa May to get her deal backed by the Commons.
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One other amendment would ensure Prime Minister Theresa May’s promise to give MPs a vote on delaying Brexit is legally binding.
The government also accepted an amendment to protect the rights of UK citizens in the EU and EU citizen's rights in the UK.
This amendment passed unanimously.
According to this report, Labour’s amendment putting forward their own plan for Brexit was rejected by 323 votes to 240.
MPs from the Independent Group, SNP, Green Party, and Liberal Democrats abstained from voting on the Labour amendment.
SNP’s amendment seeking to rule out a no-deal Brexit was also rejected by 324 votes to 288.
Theresa May is still attempting to get her Brexit deal passed by Parliament.
A so-called meaningful vote will take place in the Commons before March 12, the Prime Minister has confirmed.
If the deal finally passes, MPs would then move on to the legislation required to implement the deal, ideally by March 29.
But if the withdrawal agreement gets rejected, which experts expect it will be, May has promised there will be a vote on leaving the EU with no deal.
If this fails as well, there will be a vote calling for a Brexit delay.
In the event all three votes get voted down, the legal default would still be left with no deal.
On the other hand, speaking at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Paris, the French president Emmanuel Macron gave the clearest signal from an EU leader so far that there would be conditions on an extension to the Article 50 negotiating period.
"We would support an extension request only if it was justified by a new choice of the British," he told reporters.
In this joint press conference, Angela Merkel struck a softer tone, telling reporters: "If the UK needs a bit more time, we won’t say no. But we want an orderly withdrawal of the UK from the EU. We regret this decision but that’s the reality."
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