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The adoption in the House of Commons of an amendment to the draft bill on Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union has handed Prime Minister Theresa May a stinging defeat. But the legislative development on Wednesday, with Conservative rebels joining ranks with Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs, is an important guarantee of parliamentary scrutiny over the shape of London’s future relationship with the EU. The provision will ensure that legislators have a voice in finalising the terms of the exit agreement. The significance of that role cannot be exaggerated, given that the residency status of millions of U.K. and EU citizens in a post-Brexit scenario are at stake, besides London’s financial liabilities to the bloc. No less vital is the future of the border separating Northern Ireland from the Irish Republic. The difficult compromises Ms. May will be required to strike in the months ahead will now oblige her to be accountable to her party and to Parliament. The issue of whether parliamentary sovereignty trumps executive prerogative in determining the terms of London’s exit has existed since the June 2016 referendum. The government maintained all along that the matter was in the domain of executive authority once the popular will on Britain’s EU membership had been obtained in the plebiscite. The predominantly pro-European MPs, across party lines, have deemed otherwise. They have held it is in the fitness of things that the legislature should be taken into confidence on Brexit.
Following the referendum, a similar controversy had arisen over whether Parliament should be consulted on triggering Article 50 of the European treaty on leaving the union. A judicial challenge to the government’s position was upheld in January by the country’s Supreme Court. The ruling by a majority held that since domestic laws would be altered following Brexit, a parliamentary vote on initiating that process was mandatory. Another test looms in Parliament next week pertaining to differences over the March 2019 deadline for Brexit, which critics fear may not leave enough room to finalise the precise terms of the departure.