Last night the UK parliament held a series of indicative votes to see which options may have support within parliament. Not surprisingly none of the options received a majority, but – despite some of the news coverage – some of them got close.
Those votes in full
- B No Deal 160 For 400 Against
- D Common Market 2.0 188 For 283 Against
- H EFTA & EEA 65 For 377 Against
- J Customs Union 264 For 272 Against
- K CU & Single Market 237 For 307 Against
- L Revoke Article 50 184 For 293 Against
- M Public Vote 168 For 295 Against
- O Preferential Trade 139 For 422 Against
Compared with May’s options:
- 15th January 202 For 432 Against
- 12th March 242 For 391 Against
Unfortunately the cabinet didn’t vote on the options, and some MPs appear to have missed the reason for the votes (ie voted ‘no’ on 7 options, and ‘yes’ on their option). None-the-less this is a useful process which should have begun much earlier.
It is interesting to see that the Customs Union currently has the most support (and was the closest vote). This is also my preferred compromise because the Customs Union removes the UK from ‘ever closer political union’.
–Right Angle
Where Angles Fear to Tread 