THIS week’s Parliamentary vote on the timetable for leaving the EU has been described as “the worst Brexit news since the referendum” by an MP who voted against it.

Hove MP Peter Kyle made the statement in defence of his opposition to a motion which commits the Government to triggering Article 50 by March of next year.

Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas also rejected the plan, calling it a Tory trap into which the Labour Party had fallen. Only 80 MPs voted against the motion on Wednesday night.

Mr Kyle, who was one of 23 Labour MPs to rebel against the leadership’s instruction to back the vote, explained: “I take no pride in breaking the Labour whip, I’ve never done it before.”

But he said he felt the country was not ready to go ahead with Brexit negotiations on the timetable to which the vote commits the Government.

He said: “The politics of Brexit are like a game of 3D chess, more complicated than anything I’ve seen, and yesterday the country lost the game of chess. I feel very strongly that the timetable is wrong.

“The starting gun has now been fired before we have any clarity over the future of our economy and before we have enough experienced negotiators. Our country is not ready for the negotiations.

“We are a city with two universities, seven million visitors each year, the head offices of Amex, EDF and an economy which is outward looking and connected to Europe. I will never, ever, cast my vote in Parliament in a way that will damage what is special about our city.”

He stressed that neither the motion nor his vote was about whether the country leaves the EU but about the timetable and mechanics of leaving. The complex vote was a Labour opposition day motion tabled by shadow Brexit secretary Kier Starmer which sought to commit the Government to publishing a plan for Brexit which could be scrutinised by Parliament.

Opposition day motions are non binding and do not usually succeed but the Government used the opportunity to add its own amendment, challenging the Commons to “respect the wishes” of UK voters by invoking Article 50 by March 31, 2017.

Both main parties’ leaders instructed their MPs to back both the motion and the amendment. The vote passed with 461 MPs in favour and 89 (including the SNPs 51 MPs) against.

Sussex’s 14 Conservative MPs backed the motion with the exception of Nick Herbert who was out of the country.

Mr Kyle opposed the Tory amendment and abstained on the main motion but Green Party leader Caroline Lucas opposed both.

She told The Argus: “We’ve been signed up to a completely unrealistic timetable.”

She said the Brexit planning should include a plan for the relationship between the UK and the EU in the event that negotiations are not finalised within the two year limit.

She said: “At the moment there’s a risk that if negotiations aren’t finalised within the timeframe, the UK will be expelled summarily from the EU with no safeguards.”

She said the Labour Party had fallen into a “Tory trap” by whipping members through the Aye lobby in the absence of details on the Government’s plan for Brexit, adding that to back the motion “I would be gambling with this country’s future and that’s not a risk I am willing to take”.

MPS CAN’T BACKTRACK AFTER THIS

THE vote has been claimed as a victory by both Labour and the Conservatives – a sure sign that neither party got exactly what it wanted.

It was not a vote to leave the EU nor to trigger Article 50, which is the treaty mechanism that formally begins the exit negotiations and begins a two-year countdown to Brexit.

The question of whether the power to trigger Article 50 lies with the Prime Minister or Parliament is still being decided by the Supreme Court in a case which is expected to be resolved in January.

But this week’s vote was the first time Parliamentarians have been forced to say whether they would invoke Article 50 if asked and its resounding victory shows those who hoped that largely Remain-leaning MPs might overturn the referendum result have done so in vain.

Originally the non-binding vote, which was tabled by the Opposition, was an attempt to force the Government into publishing a plan for Brexit which was detailed enough that it could be scrutinised by Parliament.

The suggestion was initially opposed by Mrs May but, faced with a potential revolt by up to 40 Tory MPs, the Prime Minister on Tuesday bowed to pressure and backed the motion.

However the Government added its own amendment, that Parliament “should respect the wishes of the United Kingdom as expressed in the referendum on 23 June and further calls on the Government to invoke Article 50 by 31 March 2017”.

It does not trigger Article 50 and does not technically affect the Supreme Court case. It is only a commitment to do so by the end of March next year.

Thus the vote forced Europhile MPs to say whether or not they would back the triggering of Article 50 and most did, although Caroline Lucas and Peter Kyle both opposed the Government amendment.

The result of the political machinations was hailed as a “blank cheque” for Mrs May by some and may render the findings of the Supreme Court a moot point.

Because while opposition day motions of the sort voted on this week are not technically binding, it would be extremely difficult politically for MPs to reverse their now-public decision.

Many MPs who opposed the motion.

These included Peter Kyle and Caroline Lucas, who stressed their concerns were over the mechanics and timetable of our withdrawal from the EU and not an attempt to overturn the referendum decision.