Brexit: John Bercow rules out third meaningful vote on same deal

Speaker says PM cannot bring back deal to parliament without substantial changes

Jessica Elgot Chief political correspondent
Mon 18 Mar 2019 18.23 GMT

The House of Commons Speaker has thwarted any attempt by Theresa May to bring a third meaningful vote to parliament, unless there has been substantial change to the Brexit deal.

With Theresa May’s plans thrown into chaos by the move, one of her chief law officers warned the government could be forced to cut short the parliamentary session and restart in order to bring back the Brexit deal.

John Bercow’s shock move, which drew immediate criticism from May’s allies, suggested he believed such a fundamental change would involve a renegotiation at EU level rather than clarification of the legal advice written by the attorney general, something that had been suggested this week.

The solicitor general, Robert Buckland, said the decision was a “constitutional crisis” and that the government might have to consider the drastic step of ending the parliamentary session early and restarting a new session.

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Third Brexit vote must be different - Speaker

18 March 2019

Commons Speaker John Bercow has thrown the UK's Brexit plans into further confusion by ruling out another vote unless MPs are given a new motion.

In a surprise ruling, he said he would not allow a third Brexit vote in the coming days on "substantially the same" motion as MPs rejected last week.

With 11 days to go before the UK is due to leave the EU, ministers have warned of a looming "constitutional crisis".

But MPs who want to leave without a deal on 29 March welcomed the move.

Mr Bercow's ruling came as the government considers a third attempt to get the deal through Parliament.

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