Parliament's delayed Brexit vote to come before 21 January

Ministers will have their opportunity for a ‘meaningful vote’ on Theresa May’s Brexit deal before 21 January, Downing Street confirmed on Tuesday.

In the meantime, the Prime Minister has travelled to Brussels to seek extra assurances in order to save her Brexit deal after she halted its route through Parliament in order to avoid a catastrophic defeat.

The new deadline for the delayed vote does not strictly apply, given that the EU and Britain have already agreed terms for the withdrawal, but Number 10 said the PM intends to “keep to the spirit” of the EU withdrawal act.

May, who is on a tour of European capitals, met with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and the two leaders agreed to work together to find a way through the current deadlock.

“The prime minister set out the concerns held by many about it in the UK. She discussed the need for additional assurances on this point in order for the deal with the EU to pass the House of Commons. What is important here is getting something that is going to satisfy parliament, and we are open to how we achieve that,” said Rutte.

Unsurprisingly, not all MPs are reassured, with the leaders of four opposition parties at Westminster pressuring Labour to table a motion of no confidence in the government at a press conference of the People’s Vote campaign.

Ian Blackford of the SNP, Vince Cable of the Liberal Democrats, Liz Saville Roberts of Plaid Cymru and Caroline Lucas of the Green Party spoke at the conference as the campaign called on the EU to extend article 50 to allow time for a second referendum.

Meanwhile, in the Commons, Brexit minister Robin Walker sought to reassure MPs that there would be “no trickery” to stop Parliament having a say, saying that he fully expected the vote to take place before the new deadline.

Hilary Benn, the Labour chair of the Commons Brexit committee, remained sceptical and pointed out that Monday’s events showed that the government’s assurances can go up “in a puff of smoke”.