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BREXIT legislation will be debated by MPs as early as next week as ministers slammed the “hasty” introduction yesterday by the government.
Commons leader David Lidington was heckled by MPs as “disgraceful” after he announced that the committee stage of the European Union Notification of Withdrawal Bill would last just five days.
This stage would finish by February 8 so that it can be passed to Lords for scrutiny, Mr Lidington said.
Some Labour MPs hit out at the amount of time given.
Chuka Ummuna accused the government of trying to “muzzle” the Commons and Chris Leslie said that it wanted to “gag Parliament.”
Ben Bradshaw said: “Just five days to debate the detail of the most important issue facing this country in a generation, the repercussions of which will face generations to come, is totally unacceptable.”
However Mr Lidington accused them of expressing “synthetic rage” because, he said, they have plenty of time to debate a Bill with two clauses.
Labour has already tabled a number of amendments to the Bill.
These include amendments which guarantee legal rights for EU citizens in Britain and ensuring that there is no drop in employment protection after the country leave the EU.
Labour has also tabled an anti-tax haven amendment to ensure thatTheresa May does not use Brexit to weaken tax evasion and avoidance laws.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn confirmed yesterday that he has made a “clear decision” to impose a three-line whip on his MPs to vote for triggering the exit negotiations — leading to the resignation of pro-EU frontbencher Tulip Siddiq.
The SNP wants to table 50 amendments to the Bill.
The government was forced to write up the Bill after losing a Supreme Court appeal, in which judges ruled that Parliament must give Ms May permission to start the two-year Brexit process in triggering Article 50 by her timetable of March 31.
But there is not yet any sign of a white paper setting out proposals for Britain’s withdrawal from the EU, which Brexit Secretary David Davis had promised on Tuesday, hours after the Supreme Court ruling.
