Please, somebody, make it stop.
This week the House of Commons is expected to vote, again, on Theresa May’s Brexit deal.
In typical fashion, the Government refuses to say exactly what it has planned. That’s probably because it’s as confused as the rest of us.
But we should prepare for a third “meaningful vote” on the deal – known at Westminster as MV3.
MPs have rejected the deal twice already. And that provides a pretty big hint about what to expect this time around.
Anything’s possible, because MPs are free to change their minds, but at the moment it seems the deal could be rejected a third time.
But here’s the thing. The EU may have granted us an extension – so that Brexit will no longer take place on March 29, as originally planned – but time is running out.
And MPs now must stop simply voting against things.
The time has come to vote for something. To stop telling us what they are against, and decide what they actually want.
That’s the only way this shameful episode in our history can come to an end.
The world has seen the UK’s political system fail utterly. We’ve proved unable as a country to come to a decision about how we want to carry out Brexit, when we want to leave or whether we want to go ahead with it at all.
Many MPs will feel it’s unfair to blame them. The Government has failed to put sensible proposals on the table, they say.
But there have been numerous opportunities in recent months for MPs to propose and vote on amendments to whatever the Government offered.
In some cases the votes may have been symbolic, as the result may not have been legally binding.
Nonetheless, opportunities certainly existed to express a preference – but MPs have consistently voted against everything on offer.
They voted against Mrs May’s deal. They voted against a “no-deal” Brexit. They voted against a second referendum.
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They voted against a motion of no-confidence (which would have led to a general election).
They voted against various proposals from Jeremy Corbyn, including his plan for “a permanent customs union with the EU, a strong relationship with the single market underpinned by shared institutions and obligations, and dynamic alignment on rights and standards”.
They had an opportunity to take control of the process themselves, when Labour backbencher Hilary Benn proposed an amendment allowing the Commons, rather than the Government, to decide what should be debated in the Commons.
MPs voted against that.
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The one thing they’ve voted for, on 29 January 2019, was a promise to back Mrs May’s deal if she was able to replace the Northern Ireland backstop with “alternative arrangements”. But that’s proved impossible.
There’s a lot of talk about holding “indicative votes”, where MPs get to vote on a series of options, to demonstrate which one has the most support in the Commons.
That sounds like a grand idea. Let’s do that, as soon as possible.
But then it’s up to all our MPs – not just the party leaders – to ensure they use the opportunity to make an actual decision.
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