It has been said that a week is a long time in politics, at the moment I have to say that it feels like a day is a pretty long time for me and many other MPs.

And, I wanted to give a brief update before a potential second round of indicative votes tonight.

Brexit developments last week
I was pleased and relieved with the developments which took place last week, I hope that these may help us to start to find an alternative way to resolve the Brexit crisis.

Parliament voted in favour of holding indicative votes to try to find a way of building a consensus as an alternative to the Prime Minister’s proposed deal.

We then held a first round of indicative votes on a range of options on Wednesday, using a paper ballot. Those I voted for included: a second confirmatory referendum; to revoke article 50 if the UK was about to leave without a deal and for a customs union. I voted against no deal.

On Friday the Government failed again to get its deal through, after splitting it into two parts to comply with the Speaker’s ruling that the same proposal could not be repeatedly brought back to Parliament.

Potential developments this week
We are due to hold a second round of indicative votes later today, I hope this will lead to a consensus around a customs union and a further confirmatory referendum:

Some MPs who may be in favour of a customs union did not vote for it last week

I hope MPs will see that another way forward needs to be found

Some observations
I hope there is now a clear momentum building up behind alternatives to the Prime Minister’s deal.

I also hope the Government will reflect on this and change course.

What I would like to see develop
I hope that the Government will change tack and that an alternative deal based on a customs union could then be negotiated with the EU.

There would probably need to be a further delay to achieve this. However, I think it is important to discuss this properly.

I would then like to see any new deal put back to the public in a confirmatory referendum.

Thanks for all your support
We are living through challenging times and Brexit can be divisive and difficult. However, I have been very proud and encouraged by the tremendous support in our community.

Thank you for your support on this important issue.

Yours sincerely,

Matt Rodda.