19 October was the first Saturday sitting of Parliament since the Falklands War in 1982. The government’s hope was that the House of Commons would approve the EU withdrawal agreement and political declaration brought back from last week’s EU Council meeting by an understandably well pleased Boris Johnson.
The prime minister began his statement just after 9.30am. He spoke for half an hour, commending the withdrawal agreement. There followed an hour and half of responses with contributions, many extremely critical, from 55 MPs, before the proceedings turned to the government’s motion.
Section 13(1)(a) of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (‘Parliamentary approval of the outcome of negotiations with the EU’) provides that the withdrawal agreement may be ratified only if a minister of the crown has laid before each House:
(i) a statement that political agreement has been reached;
(ii) a copy of the withdrawal agreement; and
(iii) a copy of the framework for the future relationship.
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