What the government’s ‘no-deal’ defeat in the Commons actually means

The government has been defeated in the House of Commons. Yvette Cooper’s amendment designed to limit the Treasury’s ‘no deal’ powers has passed by seven votes.

Now, the Treasury view is that the changes mandated by this amendment are ‘fairly minor’ and won’t stop no deal from happening, or the government continuing to prepare for it. But what this vote does show is that there is a Commons majority to frustrate ‘no deal’.

If this coalition wants to stop a ‘no deal’ Brexit, rather than just make one more difficult, and the government really is prepared to go down this route, then they would have to do more than pass amendments such as this. Ultimately, they would have to be prepared to bring down the government if they wanted to be absolutely certain of preventing it.

But tonight’s victory for the anti-no deal coalition is a significant moment.