Financial Times: Theresa May weighs third Commons Brexit vote despite Speaker’s ruling

19 March 2019

British ministers have signalled that Theresa May could hold another vote on her fragile Brexit plan next week, despite a ruling by House of Commons Speaker John Bercow that the deal must first be substantially changed.

Steve Barclay, UK Brexit secretary, indicated that if MPs said they would support the deal in a third Commons vote, the government could find a way round the Speaker’s decision.

While Mrs May is “unlikely” to hold another vote before the EU meets for a summit in Brussels on Thursday, Mr Barclay insisted her plan remained “the only deal on the table”.

The UK prime minister was holding a cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning as she considered her next move ahead of Britain’s planned departure from the EU on March 29.

Mr Barclay told Sky News that Mr Bercow’s position would be given “serious consideration”, but added: “What the Speaker has said in his ruling is there needs to be something that is different. You can have the same motion but where the circumstances have changed . . . The fact that a number of members of parliament have said that they will change their votes points to the fact that there are things that are different.” [...]

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