Theresa May is rolling the dice on another vote
Theresa May WILL hold a vote on her deal on ‘Brexit Day’ TOMORROW after Bercow caves in following confrontation with PM’s deputy and Attorney General – but does she have any chance of winning?
Theresa May is rolling the dice on another vote on her divorce deal tomorrow after finding a way around John Bercow’s ‘sabotage’ of the plan.
The Prime Minister will use what was supposed to be Brexit Day to hold a vote on just the legally binding divorce deal and not the political declaration, meaning the Speaker could not rule it out.
Mr Bercow insisted the rules of the House had been ‘upheld and asserted’ as he gave permission for the PM to hold her vote after hours of behind the scenes wrangling. Three meetings were held between the Speaker and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox during the tussle over the motion.
Mrs May hopes the symbolism of March 29 will be enough to persuade Tory Brexiteer rebels and the DUP to finally back down and endorse the deal. The DUP confirmed tonight they would vote No tomorrow. ADVERTISING
After losing by 149 in the second meaningful vote on March 12, Mrs May needs 75 extra votes. If the DUP vote No as expected, she needs every Tory rebel to return or win over Labour MPs instead. More than 50 Tories are still declared against – suggesting defeat up of up to 100 votes.
If the Government wins it would mean Britain is on track to leave the EU on May 22 – but it would not count as a proper vote to ratify the deal as it excludes the political declaration. This means it is not ‘meaningful vote’ three.
Mrs May will aim to renegotiate the political declaration if MPs back the divorce deal part of the package tomorrow and hope to ratify the whole deal in a later vote.
The PM offered to stand down and sacrifice her job in return for the backing of Tory rebel MPs including Boris Johnson last night, but it still looks unlikely that she has the numbers to win a vote after the DUP refused to fall in line and support her.
More chaos looms if the vote does not succeed tomorrow – Britain’s departure from the EU will be rescheduled to April 12, MPs will then try to take control of the process and likely try to force May to adopt a softer Brexit. Ministers have threatened to call a general election if that happens.
David Lidington and Geoffrey Cox paved the way for tomorrow’s vote, which will take place at 2:30pm, in a meeting with the Speaker this morning.
MPs have been ordered to attend Parliament tomorrow, cancelling what was supposed to be a day in their constituencies.
Speculation has been rife all week that Mrs May would try to bring back her deal for a third ‘meaningful vote’ that would approve the deal if she had any hope of winning. Her hopes still appear bleak.
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Theresa May is rolling the dice on another vote on her divorce deal tomorrow after finding a way around John Bercow’s (pictured today in the Commons today) ‘sabotage’ of the plan.
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The Prime Minister will use what was supposed to be Brexit Day to hold a vote on just the legally binding divorce deal and not the political declaration – meaning the Speaker could not rule it out
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Attorney General Geoffrey Cox (left today) and David Lidington (right today) confronted John Bercow this morning to establish whether he would allow a new vote on the Brexit deal
The DUP’s continued refusal to back the deal makes it appear an impossible mission – but passing the divorce deal this week is the only way to leave the EU by May 22.
Javid and Gove consider ‘stop Boris’ joint bid for Tory leadership after May
Sajid Javid is floating the idea of a ‘dream ticket’ with Michael Gove as Chancellor that could see him become Prime Minister and would also shut Boris Johnson out of Downing Street, MailOnline can reveal today.
The pair are mulling whether Jeremy Hunt could be offered Home Secretary to drop his candidacy as part of the pact, while fellow Brexiteers Penny Mordaunt and Andrea Leadsom could also be handed promotions to fall into line, allies of Mr Javid have suggested.
The ‘Stop Boris’ plot came as Mr Johnson – who is joint-favourite with Mr Gove to be the next Tory leader – backed Mrs May’s Brexit deal only to pronounce it ‘dead’ hours later.
The Prime Minister yesterday offered to sacrifice her leadership to win rebel Tories’ backing for her deal, saying she will quit on May 22 if her deal passes this week.
If the deal does not pass by tomorrow, May could stay and Brexit will thrown into chaos with rebel MPs trying to force a softer exit from the EU and ministers threatening to call an election.
But Boris is now reportedly insisting Mrs May steps down even if her deal fails. MailOnline can reveal there are genuine fears that unless Mr Johnson’s rivals agree a deal ahead of a leadership campaign their support could splinter, opening the door for the former Foreign Secretary to take over.
As many as eight Cabinet ministers are expected to put their names forward and several are already out on manoeuvres today with former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab positioning himself as the No Deal candidate.
Speaking today he said Mrs May should return to Brussels and demand they reopen negotiations so Britain can achieve a ‘legally-binding exit from the Irish backstop’.
He added: ‘I think we should have sensible conversations over the two weeks we’ve got left around the suite of No Deal arrangements that can be made to mitigate any of the potential damage on either side’.
Speaker Bercow threw a further spanner in the plans by insisting any new vote must be on a ‘substantially’ different question to the last one.
But this afternoon Commons Speaker John Bercow said the motion the Government intends to put before MPs on Friday ‘complies with the test’ because it is ‘new and substantially different’.
After swerving that ruling, Mrs Leadsom said tonight: ‘As I set out to the House today, the European Union will only agree an extension until 22 May if the Withdrawal Agreement is approved this week.
‘Tomorrow’s motion gives Parliament the opportunity to secure that extension.
‘I encourage all MPs to support it and ensure that we leave the EU on the 22nd May, giving people and businesses the certainty they need.’