New Vote Not Ruled Out Despite Bercow Decision
Brexit
Secretary Stephen Barclay suggested a vote could take place next week - after
Mrs May has sought a delay to Brexit from the EU.
Mr
Bercow has ruled that the PM can not bring her deal back for a third vote
without "substantial" changes.
The
UK is due to leave the EU in 10 days with or without a deal.
The prime
minister had hoped to have another try at getting MPs to back the withdrawal
deal she has agreed with the EU this week - but Speaker Bercow effectively
torpedoed that with his surprise intervention on
Monday.
Stephen Barclay told
BBC Radio 4's Today programme the Commons Speaker had made a "serious
ruling" and ministers were giving it "serious consideration".
He
said it was important to "respect the referee" and abide by his
decisions - but, he added, Mr Bercow himself had said, in the past, that if
Parliament was guided only by precedent then "nothing ever would
change".
Mr
Bercow cited a ruling from 1604 to justify his decision to block a third vote,
after the PM's deal was rejected for a second time last week, by 149 votes.
Mr
Barclay suggested that MPs would "find a way" to get another vote, if
the government manages to persuade enough of them, including the 10 Democratic
Unionists, to change their mind and back the deal.
He
suggested it would also depend on Theresa May getting "clarity" from
the EU on the "terms of an extension" to Brexit.
He
accepted that there would now have to be a "short extension" to the
Article 50 withdrawal process if the deal gets through Parliament, to get the
necessary legislation through.
Mrs
May is writing to European Council President Donald Tusk to ask for an
extension.
The
PM has warned Brexiteer Tories that a long extension may be needed if they do
not back her deal but Downing Street said it would not reveal what the PM has
asked for at this stage.
There
would, however, need to be a vote in both Houses of Parliament to change the 29
March departure date, which is written into law, the PM's spokesman said.
Mr
Bercow refused to discuss his decision when quizzed by the BBC, as he made his
way to Parliament earlier.
Government ministers
and MPs have been floating different ideas on how to get a vote on the prime
minister's deal, in light of the Speaker's ruling.
Children and
Families' minister Nadhim Zahawi told BBC Newsnight that one of the options was
for MPs to vote on whether to ignore the 400-year-old convention that Mr Bercow
had cited in making his ruling.
Mr
Zahawi, who is a Brexiteer, was asked whether the government was going to
bypass Mr Bercow's ruling. He said: "Let's see, we have to look at all our
options."
Solicitor General
Robert Buckland said a vote to overrule the Speaker was the most likely way
forward.
He
told BBC Radio Wiltshire that if enough MPs show they want another vote on the
Brexit deal, it can return to Parliament despite the current block.
He
said this would be a more practical solution than asking the Queen to formally
close and reopen Parliament, which some have suggested would get round the rule
that MPs cannot be repeatedly asked to vote on the same question in a
Parliamentary session.
Nikki
da Costa, former director of legal affairs at Downing Street, told the Today
programme: "I think the PM and the government can still have a third
meaningful vote... but it will be extraordinarily difficult to have a fourth
meaningful vote so I think MPs really have to think very carefully if that vote
does come back."
There
is also a question mark over whether any agreement reached by Theresa May in
Brussels on extending Brexit would overrule a vote by MPs, as it would have
force under international law.
FROM .bbc.com/news/uk-politics-
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