Brexit vote: Boris Johnson's bill passes first hurdle in Commons

Bill will be given detailed scrutiny early in New Year, but is unlikely to be amended – clearing path for withdrawal from EU on 31 January

Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal has cleared its first Commons hurdle with a thumping majority of 124, putting the UK on course to leave the EU on 31 January.

The Withdrawal Agreement Bill – stripped of powers for MPs to avert the risk of a no-deal Brexit at the end of 2020 and scrutinise the future EU trade deal – was given its second reading.

However, the prime minister was warned immediately that he had embarked on “a gamble with our nation’s economy”, with huge hurdles to overcome to avoid a crash-out in just a year’s time.

The UK must negotiate, in record time, a new trading and security relationship with Brussels – to cover everything from data protection to aviation and fishing – having drawn hard red lines.

Mr Johnson appeared to harden his stance further, telling MPs there would be “no alignment on EU rules”, a shift from merely seeking to diverge, which would see the EU impose tariffs or quotas.

Hilary Benn, the veteran Labour MP, said: “If he succeeds, his gamble will have paid off – although I wonder how detailed an agreement he will manage to achieve in that time – but if he fails, the cliff edge of a no-deal Brexit beckons in just 12 months’ time.”

And Ian Blackford, the SNP Westminster leader, said, of the decision to end the transition period in December 2020, at whatever cost: “That deadline means that the risk of a no-deal Brexit, which we all fear, is very much back on the table.”

The bill will now be given detailed scrutiny at its committee stage early in the New Year, but is not expected to be amended significantly before passing into law next month.

The result was not in doubt, after Mr Johnson won an 80-strong majority at last week’s election, but the size of the victory hinted at more than 30 Labour abstentions or absentees.

The prime minister’s relaxed approach to the vote – despite its seismic implications – was underlined by him autographing copies of the bill for several Conservative MPs, in the chamber.

Earlier, Mr Johnson urged MPs voters to ditch the labels “Leave” and “Remain”, with the fight to keep the UK in the EU buried by his election landslide.

“We come together as a new parliament to break the deadlock and finally to get Brexit done,” he told MPs.

The decision to leave the EU “must not be seen as a victory for one party over another, or one faction or another”, he argued, adding: “This is the time when we move on and discard the old labels of Leave and Remain.”

But Keir Starmer, Labour’s Brexit spokesperson – while acknowledging Brexit will now go ahead – said that didn’t change the reality of the economic damage from the exit deal on the table.

“Whatever side we were on – or no side at all – the Leave-Remain argument goes with it,” he said.

“That doesn’t mean that the deal negotiated by the prime minister is a good deal. It isn’t.

“It was a bad deal in October when it was signed. It was a bad deal when it was first debated in this House in October. It was a bad deal last Thursday and it’s a bad deal today.”

Sir Keir branded the clause to make it unlawful for the government to ask for an extension to the transition period – if no trade deal has been agreed in a year’s time – “reckless and irresponsible”.

However, six Labour MPs defied Jeremy Corbyn by voting for the bill – Sarah Champion, Rosie Cooper, Jon Cruddas, Emma Lewell-Buck, Grahame Morris and Toby Perkins – while three shadow cabinet ministers abstained.

Before the election, the bill was also given a second reading – but was then pulled by Downing Street after MPs refused to agree an extraordinarily rapid timetable of just three days in committee.

This time, a similar so-called programme motion sailed through untroubled, with a majority of 110.