A Southampton MP has defied party orders for a second time and voted against the ‘Brexit Bill’.
Alan Whitehead, Labour MP for Southampton Test voted against the bill, which passed by 494 votes to 122, to give Prime Minister Theresa May powers to trigger Article 50.
The shadow business minister was among 52 Labour representatives to defy party leader Jeremy Corbyn’s orders to approve the bill.
Earlier in the parliamentary process, all of Hampshire’s MPs - except for Mr Whitehead, the county’s only Labour MP - voted against an amendment to secure rights for EU nationals living in the UK.
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The amendment was defeated by 332 votes to 290.
The bill, called the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill, will now have to pass through the House of Lords before Mrs May can trigger Article 50, starting the Brexit negotiations process.
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