PM determined to press on with vote
THERESA May has voiced her “absolute determination” that MPs should have another chance to vote on her Brexit deal, despite the bombshell intervention of the Commons Speaker.
John Bercow provoked uproar at Westminster on Monday when he ruled that the Government could not bring the Prime Minister’s deal back for a third “meaningful vote” unless there were substantial changes.
However, in the course of a 90-minute discussion at the weekly meeting of the Cabinet in Downing Street, Mrs May made clear she wanted MPs to have another vote “as soon as possible”.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “What you can see from the Prime Minister and her colleagues is an absolute determination to find a way in which Parliament could vote for the UK to leave the European Union with a deal.
“The Prime Minister has been very clear throughout that she wants that to happen as soon as possible.”
The spokesman said that Mrs May would now be writing to European Council president Donald Tusk ahead of tomorrow’s EU summit in Brussels in relation to an extension of the Article 50 withdrawal process.
The Prime Minister has previously said that if the Commons voted down her deal in a second “meaningful vote” – as happened last week – there would have to be an extended delay, with the UK staging elections to the European Parliament in May.
However, the spokesman said: “She has said in the House of Commons that she does not want there to be a long delay and that she believes asking the British public to take part in European elections three years after they voted to leave the EU would represent a failure by politicians.”
Downing Street confirmed discussions were continuing with the Democratic Unionist Party – which props up the Government at Westminster – in an effort to build support for the deal after last week’s 149-vote defeat.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “She is speaking with and having meetings with colleagues and a lot of those meetings have been focused on Brexit.”
Earlier, Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay acknowledged Mr Bercow’s ruling made it “more unlikely” there would be an attempt to stage another vote before Mrs May heads to Brussels, as No 10 had hoped.
However, he insisted that Mrs May’s agreement remained “the only deal on the table”.
“What we need to do is secure the deal,” he said.
“This is the only deal on the table. The EU is clear it is the only deal on the table. Business needs the certainty of this deal and it is time that Parliament comes together and gets behind it.”
With less than two weeks before Britain is still formally due to leave on March 29, there was exasperation among leaders of the remaining EU 27 over the continued deadlock in Westminster.