‘A major constitutional crisis’
The Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, has plunged Britain into a ‘‘major constitutional crisis’’ after banning Theresa May from holding a third vote on her Brexit deal, the Solicitor General said yesterday.
The speaker, a Remain voter who has faced repeated accusations of anti-Brexit bias, invoked a convention last used 99 years ago to stop the vote taking place. His unexpected announcement was greeted with fury in the Commons, as ministers accused him of being ‘‘interventionalist’’ and failing to ‘‘respect’’ MPs.
With just 10 days to go until Brexit day, the prime minister was yesterday weighing her options to get round the speaker’s ruling that her deal could not face a third ‘‘meaningful vote’’ by MPs unless it was substantially different from the package that was decisively defeated last week.
Robert Buckland, the Solicitor General, said that the decision would have ‘‘huge reverberations’’ for the Brexit process and that May could now ask the Queen to cut short the current parliamentary session and start again.
Until Bercow made his announcement, May had been due to hold a third vote on her deal by today at the latest, having spent the weekend trying to persuade Conservative and DUP MPs to back her.
She had hoped Parliament would approve the deal before a meeting of EU leaders on Friday, allowing her to ask for a short extension to Article 50, but with her strategy in tatters she is now expected to request a much longer extension of up to two years.
May had also been contemplating delaying the vote until next week, as more than 50 Tory MPs had said they would still vote against it, but the decision was taken out of her hands by the speaker.
The latest twist was greeted with disbelief in Brussels, which could now delay a decision on granting an Article 50 extension until ‘‘one hour before’’ Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29. Chris Heaton-Harris, a minister in the Brexit department, predicted in a message to Tory MPs that it was ‘‘game over’’ for Brexit as a long delay would mean Britain would never leave.
However, EU leaders have previously warned they will not grant an extension unless Britain comes up with new ideas, meaning a no-deal Brexit remains possible. Some Brexiteers said Britain must end the uncertainty by leaving with no deal next week.
Zac Goldsmith, the Conservative MP, predicted that a general election would now have to take place, but said that MPs would have ‘‘a very hard time’’ persuading voters to believe their manifesto pledges.
Bercow took the Government by surprise in his announcement to the Commons yesterday. Citing a convention that dates back to 1604 and was last used in 1920, he said a defeated motion could not be brought back in the same form during the course of a parliamentary session.
Bercow added that the second vote on May’s deal had been within the rules, as it had been substantially revised since its defeat by 230 votes in January.
Buckland said: ‘‘We’re in a major constitutional crisis here, a political crisis we want to solve for the country. The prime minister is doing everything she can to try and break that impasse. We are going to have to put all our thinking caps on collectively and come up with some quick answers here.’’
Describing the speaker as ‘‘interventionalist’’ he added: ‘‘There are ways around this – a prorogation of Parliament and a new session. But we are now talking about not just days but hours until March 29.’’