A vote against Brexit timetable is a vote against Oct. 31 departure -UK govt

Reuters
Updated

LONDON, Oct 21 (Reuters) - British lawmakers who do not support the government's planned timetable to pass legislation to ratify its Brexit deal will be voting not to leave the European Union on Oct. 31, the leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg said on Monday.

The government said it planned for the legislation to complete its House of Commons stages by the end of Thursday, prompting anger from many lawmakers that the tight schedule would not provide enough time to properly scrutinise the legislation.

Lawmakers will on Tuesday be asked to approve the proposed timetable, known as the programme motion.

"People who don’t vote for the programme motion will be voting not to have Brexit on the 31st October," Rees-Mogg told parliament.

Democratic Unionist Party lawmaker Jeffrey Donaldson, whose party's 10 votes could prove key to approving the timetable, indicated he may not support it, saying the proposed scrutiny "does not do justice to what the constituents that I represent need". (Reporting by Kylie MacLellan and Costas Pitas; editing by Kate Holton)