Boris Johnson asks MPs to reconcile their Brexit differences ahead of key votes
19 October 2019, 10:05
Boris Johnson has called for MPs to reconcile their differences over Brexit as Parliament sits on a Saturday for the first time in 37 years.
Addressing MPs in the Commons, the Prime Minister said the agreement he has struck with Brussels would allow the UK to leave "whole and entire" on October 31st.
He told MPs: "The House will need no reminding that this is the second deal and the fourth vote, three-and-a-half years after the nation voted for Brexit.
"And during those years friendships have been strained, families divided and the attention of this House consumed by a single issue that has at times felt incapable of resolution.
"But I hope that this is the moment when we can finally achieve that resolution and reconcile the instincts that compete within us."
However, before a vote takes place on Mr Johnson's Brexit deal MPs will first vote on the Letwin amendment.
The Letwin amendment, if it passes, would withhold approval of Mr Johnson's deal, until the legislation to enact it was 'safely passed' - this means the Benn Act would be automatically activated, meaning the Prime Minister would be forced to request a further extension to the Brexit deadline.
But Government sources reportedly warned that if it passed would render the proceedings meaningless and they would simply send Tory MPs home.
Follow the day's events as they happen in our Brexit live blog.
