Brexit-blocker Bercow vows: I won’t step down

Speaker digs in again and warns Commons will stop No Deal

JOHN Bercow plans to stay on as Speaker of the House of Commons past the summer, he revealed last night.

In a move that will enrage Leavers, who see him as a major barrier to Brexit, he said it was not ‘sensible to vacate the chair’ during such ‘momentous events’.

And the Speaker – a committed Remainer – also warned that Parliament could still block any attempt to push through a No Deal Brexit.

When he took the job in June 2009, Mr Bercow said he intended to quit after nine years in the chair, which would have been last summer. When that passed, it was reported that he had told friends he would stand down in July.

But Mr Bercow told The Guardian last night that he has no plans to vacate the chair in the near future after the UK did not leave the EU at the end of March.

He said: ‘I’ve never said anything about going in July of this year. Secondly, I do feel that now is a time in which momentous events are taking place and there are great issues to be resolved and, in those circumstances, it doesn’t seem to me sensible to vacate the chair.’

He added: ‘If I had any intention to announce on that matter… I would do so to Parliament first.’

As a number of Conservative leadership hopefuls promise to deliver Brexit with or without an agreement with the European Union, the Speaker hit back, saying the idea that the House will not ‘have its say’ is ‘just for the birds’.

The comments, made at an event in Washington DC, come after Eurosceptic contenders Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab have both threatened a No Deal Brexit on October 31.

Speaking at the prestigious Brookings Institution think tank, Mr Bercow said: ‘Parliament is a big player in this and whatever view it takes, whether Parliament votes one way for one proposition or a directly contrary proposition, or for another proposition somewhere in the middle, remains to be seen.

‘But the idea that Parliament is going to be... evacuated from the centre stage of debate on Brexit is simply unimaginable.’ Mr Bercow said he was ‘very clear’ that Parliament and its members would have ‘very strong views’ on Britain’s departure from the EU.

Earlier this year, Mr Bercow dashed Theresa May’s hopes of forcing her Brexit deal through the Commons after announcing that he would refuse to table a third vote on it without substantial changes. And yesterday, he hinted he could once again use his power to stage a vote which could stop a No Deal from being passed.

As Conservatives continue to pitch for the top job, Mr Bercow warned that Parliament could still intervene in any decision on Britain’s departure from the bloc. ‘There is much debate still to be had,’ he said. ‘The idea that there is an inevitability of a No Deal Brexit would be a quite wrong suggestion. There is a long way to go, a lot still to be said, nothing should be taken for granted.’

The Speaker, whose role is to remain politically impartial, also appeared to endorse Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Environment Secretary Michael Gove in the race to Downing Street. Both are examples of ‘extremely capable ministers’ and have ‘the intellectual self confidence’ and the ‘communication skills’ to cope with whatever is ‘thrown at them’, he said. ‘They are people that know they can hack it,’ Mr Bercow added.

MORE than 23 hours of sitting time in the House of Commons has been left unused since the EU warned Britain not to waste time to resolve Brexit.

The chamber rose early several times between the Easter and May recesses, despite EU Council President Donald Tusk telling MPs ‘please do not waste this time’ after granting the UK a Brexit extension. The SNP claimed ‘calling it a zombie Parliament would be to disrespect the brain-eating living dead’.