Thirteen Labour MPs have backed a Liberal Democrat bill requiring the government to begin negotiations on joining a bespoke customs union with the EU.
Labour’s manifesto ruled out re-joining the existing EU custom union and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has recently said such a move was “not currently our policy”.
The vote on the bill was tied, with 100 MPs voting each way leaving Deputy Speaker Caroline Nokes to cast the deciding vote. She told MPs she would back the bill “in order to allow for further debate”.
Although the bill has progressed, it is highly unlikely to become law unless it receives government support.
It is the first time a vote has been tied in the House of Commons since 2019, when MPs voted on alternative plans for Brexit.
Richard Burgon, Dawn Butler and Dame Meg Hillier were among those Labour MPs to back the bill.
The majority of Labour MPs abstained on the bill, while three voted against.
The UK left the customs union – which eases trade barriers by allowing member states to charge the same taxes on goods imported from outside the bloc – after the country voted for Brexit.
The government has been trying to build a closer relationship with the EU including through deals on food standards rules, electricity trading and visas for young people.
Speaking in Parliament, the Liberal Democrats’ Europe spokesperson Al Pinkerton told MPs his customs union bill would “cut red tape, unlock investment and restore certainty to British business”.
He said Brexit had been “an abject economic failure” which had “choked business investment, shattered economic resilience, strangled trade, stifled the economy and left everyone of us poorer”.
Despite having opposed Brexit, Conservative Simon Hoare urged MPs not to back the bill.
He argued that joining a customs union would go against the wishes of the public who backed Brexit in the referendum and would create uncertainty for businesses.
He also said it would mean unpicking trading relationships with other countries such as Australia and that the EU didn’t want such a union.
“There is neither interest in it nor appetite for it,” he added.