John Bercow has rejected a Government bid to hold a “meaningful vote” on Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal on Monday.
The Speaker said the Government’s motion on Monday was the same in substance as the one considered on Saturday by MPs.
He told the Commons: “It’s clear that the motions are in substance the same.
READ MORE: Scottish court rejects UK Government bid to dismiss Brexit legal action
“However, this matter was decided fewer than 49 hours ago. After more than three hours of debate the House voted by 322 to 306 for Sir Oliver Letwin’s amendment, which stated that ‘this House has considered the matter but withholds approval unless and until implementing legislation is passed’.”
Mr Bercow said: “Today’s motion is in substance the same as Saturday’s motion, and the House has decided the matter.
“Today’s circumstances are in substance the same as Saturday’s circumstances.
“My ruling is therefore that the motion will not be debated today as it would be repetitive and disorderly to do so.”
Mr Bercow said the “same question convention” is “a necessary rule to ensure the sensible use of the House’s time, and proper respect for the decisions that it takes”.
Mr Bercow said the Government can legitimately introduce its EU Withdrawal and Implementation Bill.
He said the Bill has been presented for its first reading today.
Mr Bercow added: “I have no doubt that the leader will offer further details of the intended timetable for the Bill when he makes a business statement later today.”
Raising a point of order following the Speaker’s decision, Conservative Brexiteer Peter Bone (Wellingborough) said: “When we were debating on Saturday, nobody knew whether the Prime Minister was going to send a letter or not, and since that has happened, whilst you are quite correct Sir to say the motion is the same, an event outside has dramatically changed it.”
The Brexit Steering Group met this afternoon to discuss the latest developments in the UK. We agreed to advise the Conference of Presidents to await the full ratification on the UK side before the @Europarl votes on the deal. It’s now up to the UK Parliament to make their choice.
— Guy Verhofstadt (@guyverhofstadt) October 21, 2019
Pushing for the MPs to be able to vote on the Prime Minister’s deal, Mr Bone added: “It would give the country the opportunity to know whether this House approves or disapproves of the Prime Minister’s deal.”
Mr Bercow replied: “I did not consider in reaching a judgment on this matter whether the letter would be sent, the letter was sent on Saturday evening.
“More widely however, the question of whether it would be a material consideration for the Chair whether a minister of the crown would obey the law, the honest answer to the honourable gentleman is that that consideration had not entered my mind as pertinent to my reflection on the matter.”
Fellow Brexiteer Sir Bill Cash (Stone) added: “The Benn Act has not done anything yet, other than in respect of the letter, to change the repeal of the 1972 Act, therefore I would simply argue, and put it to you, that the question of whether or not, as you mentioned in your statement, there were issues relating to whether the law were being obeyed is not an issue at this stage in the proceedings.
“For that reason, I simply say to you if I may, would it be possible for you to reconsider your position, because I’m afraid that the reality is that the law of the land remains as I said last Friday.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel