If it ends in a tie, guess who has the casting vote?

Parliamentary practice suggests the Speaker sides with the Government, but there are loopholes…

JOHN BERCOW could have the casting vote if Boris Johnson’s deal comes down to a tie today.

Parliamentary rules dictate that the Speaker has the deciding vote – and Mr Bercow should be expected to cast his ballot “according to what was done in similar circumstances in the past”.

The situation is rare and opinion is divided over how precedent may apply.

The Commons rule states: “Where possible the issue should remain open for further discussion and no final decision should be made by a casting vote.”

In April, Mr Bercow made the casting vote after a tied result on an amendment that sought to allow MPS to hold further indicative votes. Mr Bercow consulted clerks who checked Erskine May’s Parliamentary Practice.

Eventually he cast his vote with the Government, which had opposed the motion and the amendments. In announcing his decision he said: “In accordance with precedent and on the principle that important decisions should not be taken except by a majority, I cast my vote with the Noes.”

It was the first time that had happened since 1993, during the Maastricht Treaty Bill, when Betty Boothroyd was Speaker. According to an 1867 convention established by John Evelyn Denison, the deciding vote should allow the House the opportunity for further debate. Since then, there have been 24 tied votes. In theory, this could mean Mr Bercow helps pass the deal today to allow MPS to debate the Withdrawal Agreement Bill next week and give them another chance to give their verdict.

Another convention states that the Speaker should not decide the matter – in other words, give MPS the opportunity for further debate on an issue.

Therefore, if there is a tie on a Second Reading vote, the Speaker would vote to continue the Bill. A final rule is that the Speaker, in any division upon a bill, should vote to leave a bill in its existing form. No Meaningful Vote on Brexit has ended in a tie before, so it would fall on the Speaker and the clerks to interpret how past precedent may apply. However, Mr Bercow, who has admitted voting Remain in the referendum, has been criticised over his perceived “bias” on the issue of Brexit.

In March he was accused of plunging Britain into a “major constitutional crisis” after initially banning Theresa May from holding a third vote on her Brexit deal, the Solicitor General said last night.

Mr Bercow invoked a convention dating back to 1604, and last used in 1920, and said a defeated motion could not be brought back in the same form in the same parliamentary session. Earlier this year Tory Leave supporters led by

Crispin Blunt tried to rally support for a vote of no confidence in Mr Bercow after a series of controversial rulings widely considered to favour Remain.

Last week, he launched a defence of his record on US television, saying Brexit supporters were blaming the referee for them “losing the match”.

Asked if he had made rulings that “may have been more helpful to the Opposition than to the Government”, he said he had made them to “help the scrutiny of the people who wield the levers of power”.

The Speaker’s Office has declined to clarify how Mr Bercow would vote in the event of a tie.