Will the Brexit bill make it through the House of Lords?

The 9th of January 2020 may be seen as a seminal moment in British political history. There have been many occasions since the 23rf of June 2016 when it felt as if a deal for Britain to leave the European Union would never reach the statute books. Is the deal perfect, UNN feels not, however, this is undoubtedly a positive. The process that saw the Commons deliver Theresa May record defeats. The score was comprehensive:  330 ayes to 231 noes. All 6 currently declared Labour leadership candidates voted no. 

Is this game set and match? The bill has not gone through the Lords yet. This could be problematic.  Lord Kinnoull who is the Chair of the House of Lords EU Committee has said “The revised EU Withdrawal Agreement Bill has significantly weaker arrangements for transparency and democratic oversight. We are concerned that so much of the detail of the Withdrawal Agreement is being left to the UK/EU Joint Committee, a body that will not be subject to any parliamentary oversight and that may not even publish details of the decisions it reaches. The lack of any provision in the Bill for the UK Parliament to scrutinise the future relationship negotiations is set in harsh relief compared to the role the European Parliament will play.”

Will the Lords add amendments to the deal? There is a serious possibility this could happen. Things that are likely are Erasmus, child refugee’s, this is despite these amendments being rejected in the commons. Given we are living in a time when the future of the current Lords is far from clear, some may ask: would it be wise to add these amendments at this time? Boris Johnson is clearly concerned as ITV is running with a story that Boris Johnson has told the Lords not to meddle with Brexit ahead of the next phase of the bill’s process towards law. Watch this space. 

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