Bercow’s bombshell - explained

THE RULEBOOK

Erskine May: Parliamentary Practice is the unofficial rulebook of the House of Commons, and as the most authoritative study of parliamentary procedure, it is considered a significant part of the UK’S unwritten constitution. First published in 1844 by the constitutional theorist Thomas Erskine May, it is now in its 24th edition.

THE PRECEDENT Erskine May sets out that “a motion or an amendment which is the same, in substance, as a question which has been decided during a session may not be brought forward again during that same session”.

Parliamentary sessions generally last a year, although the government made the current session two years long to avoid having to win a majority for a Queen’s Speech last year, given its slim majority.

Commons Speaker John Bercow told MPS that the convention dates back to 1604, but was tested 12 times in the following three centuries, until 1920.

In all those cases, Speakers rejected motions which were too similar to ones that had already been rejected by MPS. Since then, the issue hasn’t arisen because there has been “general compliance” with the rule.

THE SOLUTION: PROROGATION? Proroguing parliament means to ask the Queen, via the Privy Council, to bring a session of parliament to an early end. Speaker Bercow confirmed that a third vote on the Brexit deal could take place if parliament was prorogued. When reforms to reduce the powers of the House of Lords were twice blocked by peers in 1949, Clement Attlee prorogued parliament and held a session that lasted just 12 days, to get around rules that said laws rejected by the Lords could not be brought back for two sessions.