May caves on meaningful vote – two cheers!

This is a great day for parliamentary democracy. MPs will get a “meaningful vote” at the end of the Brexit process – even though the details of it still have to be nailed down. The chance of the people getting their own vote has gone up. So has the chance of stopping Brexit completely.

The government’s retreat over the meaningful vote will put spring in the step of pro-Europeans both inside and outside parliament. MPs who stood up to bullies are national heroes.

This is a boost for morale – and morale is an asset in any political campaign. Pro-Europeans are still the underdogs. But the battle is moving in our favour. Our efforts are making a difference.

The government had wanted to neuter a version of the meaningful vote passed by the House of Lords. But by early afternoon, it knew MPs were going to back peers.

Phillip Lee, a justice minister, had resigned. Four more pro-European junior ministers were prepared to quit, according to the Telegraph. Justine Greening, the former Cabinet minister, suggested she would vote against the government.

Rather than face defeat, the government caved. It agreed to accept a proposal by Dominic Grieve, who has led the charge for the meaningful vote, as the basis for a “structural discussion” on a new version when the legislation returns to the House of Lords next week. (See page 5).

The prime minister gave a personal assurance to 15-20 rebels in her Commons office 10 minutes before voting started to accept the thrust of Grieve’s amendment, according to Sky News’ Faisal Islam.

Theresa May originally said MPs would have a take-it-or-leave-it vote when she finished her Brexit negotiations. If they didn’t like her deal, we would crash out with no deal at all. And if she didn’t manage to do a deal in the first place, we’d also crash out. This was an insult to democracy.

The government did make a compromise proposal after peers produced their own version. But it was far too weak.

Brave Tory MPs have now forced the prime minister to back away from her position. They ran the gauntlet of the whips. Even more courageously, they faced down the bully-boys in the Brexit press. The Sun this morning had a vast front-page editorial entitled “Great Britain or Great Betrayal”, while the Express warned: “Ignore the will of the people at your peril”.

Because we don’t yet know exactly how the meaningful vote will work – and there is still a risk the the government will backtrack under pressure from hardline Brexiters – pro-Europeans shouldn’t let their guard down. More work will be needed in the coming days before the prime minister’s concessions can be banked.

That said, this looks like an important government retreat.

The risk of crashing out of the EU with no deal – something the government itself says could amount to “Armageddon” – is now reduced.

Meanwhile, the chance of getting a people’s vote on the Brexit deal has gone up. If the prime minister negotiates a bad deal – as, sure as eggs are eggs, she will – MPs won’t just have to take it or leave it. They will be able to ask the public whether they still want Brexit. And if the people don’t like the deal, that will be the end of the whole goddamn nightmare.

The piece was updated shortly after publication to add paragraphs about prime minister’s personal assurance to 15-20 rebel MPs and the compromise proposal the government had previously made, as well as a phrase about how there was still a risk of the government backtracking.

Further update June 13: the piece was modified to inject further notes of caution. In particular, “hip, hip, hooray!” in the headline was changed to “two cheers”. Further passages were added about how pro-Europeans shouldn’t let their guard down and how more work would be needed before the prime minister’s concessions could be banked.