For those who had better things to do at 6.53am (😴) than listen to me on @BBCr4today a quick thread on my points: I would be very surprised if the Speaker allowed the Government’s ‘meaningful vote’ motion today (caveat - I have been ‘very surprised’ by John Bercow before...)...
... my interpretation is that the House’s ‘same question’ rule applies (you can’t ask the House the same question twice in one session). The wording of the motion today is not exactly the same as Saturday’s but it is ‘the same fundamental proposition’...
... There has been criticism of the government for not pushing the motion to a division on Saturday. But the wording of the govt’s motion was removed by the Letwin amdt and replaced with text saying the House withholds approval until the WAB passes. The House was then asked...
... to agree the motion ‘as amended’. It did so without a division. The govt presumably decided not to push the decision to a division because that would just have been a rerun of the previous division. All those who’d voted for Letwin would have voted for the amended motion...
... It was no longer possible to have a vote on the original text of the motion and test support for the deal because it had been removed by the amendment. That was what the House decided to do with the motion and I can’t see why the decision would be different today...
...Because the risk of a no deal exit remains. Benn Act says if, once request for extension is sent, the House subsequently agrees to a deal, the request can be withdrawn.
So why is the government trying to have a MV today? If the Speaker allowed it AND IT PASSED, govt could withdraw its extension request, it would give momentum to WAB, help show EU no extension needed and fulfil one requirement for ratification of the deal...
... As WAB is being presented today (1st reading) & 2nd reading can’t take place until Tuesday at earliest, there isn’t anything else deal-related the govt could do with Commons time today. Plus Speaker preventing MV today reinforces narrative of Parliament against Brexit. /ends
