May’s Brexit deal likened to ‘Frankenstein’s monster’ after three Commons defeats
Theresa May's Brexit deal has been described as a "Frankenstein monster" as MPs spoke in the Commons late into the night on the first of five days of debate over the issue.
Labour MP and Remain supporter David Lammy made the comparison, calling it "an ugly beast that no one voted for or wanted", on a day when the prime minister suffered three humiliating Commons defeats in little more than an hour.
Commons leader Andrea Leadsom was first forced to agree to publish the Government’s full legal advice on the deal.
This came after MPs found the Government in contempt of Parliament.
Then, MPs succeeded in a bid to grant the Commons a greater say over what happens if May’s deal is rejected next Tuesday.
ITV News' political editor Robert Peston tweeted:
After comparing the prime minister's deal to a "Frankenstein monster", Mr Lammy called for a People's Vote, saying it would be "an opportunity to right the wrong" of the 2016 referendum.
DUP MP Paul Girvan also stirred the chamber when he suggested Mrs May’s Brexit deal would do what the IRA failed to do and lead to the reunification of Ireland.
He said: “Many families from this United Kingdom gave sons to fight for what we have in Northern Ireland, which is to remain part of the UK.
“What was not achieved by the IRA and Republicanism has been achieved by those bureaucrats within Europe and with a pen potentially leaving Northern Ireland on the route to a united Ireland.”
Theresa May told MPs if they vote down her Brexit deal they should not "imagine another deal is going to miraculously appear".
She reiterated a position she has held throughout negotiations: “The alternative is uncertainty and risk - the risk Brexit could be stopped, the risk we could crash out with no deal.”
She said it would not be in the “national interest” to block the Withdrawal Agreement, adding: “The only certainty would be uncertainty.”
MPs' decisions over the next week would “set the course our country takes for decades to come”, she added.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said May had "united both Conservative Remainers and Conservative Leavers and members of every opposition party in an extraordinary coalition against the deal".
Stephen Barclay, in his first speech from the despatch box as Brexit Secretary, said Mrs May’s deal was “not perfect” but said: “It recognises our shared history and values and provides a framework for our future economic and security relationship.”
He added: “This deal is a choice between the certainty of continued cooperation or the potentially damaging fracture of no-deal.”
Theresa May faces Jeremy Corbyn at Prime Minister's Questions at midday, and then MPs are expected to resume the debate on the Brexit deal.