Posted: Oct 20, 2019 1:51 pm
GrahamH wrote:Thommo wrote:ronmcd wrote:I still don't get why Boris postponed the vote, doing it on Tuesday might give him more time to persuade some MPs, but it might give time for some to be persuaded otherwise.
What would he gain by winning a "meaningful vote" in that situation? It would not defer the Benn act, which had become the only reason for holding it.
What he needs to pass to get Britain out of the EU with a deal is the Withdrawal Bill. The meaningful vote was a symbolic indication of acceptance from the Commons that had elevated status purely because of the provision in the Benn act referring to it - a provision that was effectively superseded by Letwin (for the reasons discussed above).
Surely it was still meaningful in agreeing the terms of the deal. It was always going to require a withdrawl bill as well. It would have been "a
symbolic indication of acceptance from the Commons".
Bearing in mind it's pretty obvious that losing the vote would be viewed as negative, the question there was "what would he gain by winning in those circumstances?".
The answer is of course: absolutely nothing. He'd be in the exact same position of having to win Withdrawal Agreement passage with an extension in process either way. Why risk losing the vote when you have nothing to gain? Regardless of what I think of Boris, that's not the sort of risk I'd take.
Contrast that with what he'd have got if it passed without the Letwin amendment: Complete freedom to implement either his deal or no deal with the Benn act now satisfied.