Graham Brady’s Brexit amendment passes in the Commons

Graham Brady’s amendment – that will send Theresa May back to Brussels to renegotiate her Brexit plan – has passed by 16 votes.

The amendment, which was put together by the chair of the 1922 committee and was backed by the Government, states that the controversial backstop should be ‘replaced with alternative arrangements to avoid a hard border’. This effectively gives the PM a mandate from the Commons to try and reopen negotiations on the withdrawal agreement. But there is no guarantee that the EU will agree to this, as Brussels has already made it clear that this would not be acceptable.

So what happens next? The shortest answer is that, once again, the can has been kicked down the road. But there is some good news for the Tory party in this amendment passing – it shows, if nothing else, that the Conservatives can put on a united front when it comes to Brexit.