Has Bercow just destroyed May’s last chance to pass her deal?

No. 10’s strategy to win over the DUP and the Brexiteers to Theresa May’s deal in time for a third vote has hit a wall. It’s not that the talks have stopped – if anything they’re going fairly well. Instead, the Speaker of the Commons has thrown a spanner in the works by suggesting that the vote may never happen. Bercow has used a statement to the House to say that he will not permit a third meaningful vote on the deal to take place – unless there are substantial changes to the deal on the table.

Bercow surprised the government with the impromptu statement. In it, he invoked a ‘strong and longstanding convention’ dating back to 1604 (from the Erskine May guide to parliamentary procedure) which says that said that by convention, the question ‘may not be brought forward again during the same session’. The Speaker said that he would only permit the deal to be voted on for a third time if there were substantial changes.