22 October 2018updated 07 Jun 2021 5:58pm

What just happened with Stephen Kinnock’s amendment, and what does it mean?

LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 17: MP Stephen Kinnock of the Labour party arrives at the Cabinet Office on January 17, 2019 in London, England. After defeating a vote of no confidence in her government, Theresa May called on MPs to break the Brexit deadlock and 'come together, put the national interest first - and deliver on the referendum.' (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)

MPs have voted through a bill to mandate the executive to seek an extension to the Article 50 process – and have imposed an unexpected extra condition on themselves: to debate and vote on the withdrawal agreement for a fourth time, coupled with a series of further concessions and guarantees on workers’ rights, offered by Theresa May in her doomed final bid to get Labour MPs on board with her plan.

The amendment, tabled by Stephen Kinnock and backed by more than a dozen of his colleagues, passed thanks to legislative chicanery by the government, who deliberately neglected to provide tellers for the No side, which meant that it passed by default.