During last weeks’ Brexit debates prior to the long-awaited ‘meaningful vote,’ Labour MP Preet Gill condemned those ‘blindly following’ ideology and called for urgent action to be taken to achieve a better deal for the UK.

Gill represents the Edgbaston constituency, which voted 52.7% in favour of remaining in European Union.

Speaking to MPs in the Commons Chamber on the 14th January, Gill laid out her concerns about Prime Minister Theresa May’s proposed withdrawal agreement with the European Union. She targeted the Government’s poor handling of the negotiations and demanded a ‘deal that works for people, families and businesses across the West Midlands’ – declaring that May’s deal ‘does not do that.’ She told MPs that the deal ‘did not… represent a better future for the people of Edgbaston,’ adding that she was ‘not trying to hamper Brexit.’

This denunciation of the Brexit deal came after weeks of criticism from all sides of the house over issues such as the Irish backstop arrangement, in which the UK would become part of an EU customs union without single market access.

Gill expanded her rebuke of the deal to the ‘threat’ it poses to universities in her constituencies. ‘Across the west midlands, we attract over 8000 students from the EU each year’, she told MPs, ‘the universities in my constituency are concerned about the impacts of this deal.’

Uncertainty over the futures of EU nationals has many MPs from across the political divide concerned. However, the Edgbaston MP is not alone in her concern for EU nationals with many parliamentarians rallying to attack the Government for its initial decision to charge European citizens a fee to remain in the UK – a move sharply reversed by Sajid Javid’s Home Office.

Having declared the Prime Minister’s negotiations a ‘failure,’ Gill voted down the Withdrawal Agreement along with Tory backbench rebels such as Boris Johnson and Anna Soubry. She and 431 other MPs were able to inflict the worst defeat upon a government since 1924.

Another vote is due to held on the 29th January, however, it will not be another ‘meaningful vote’ and instead will be an opportunity for backbench MPs and those in opposition to try and amend it. A second ‘meaningful vote’ is expected to be in February, a spokesperson from Downing Street has said.