While we're waiting for the House of Commons speaker to decide on whether or not to accept a second meaningful vote on the revised WA, here's what the *other* key parliament is looking at:
1/ Article 26 of the European Parliament's Brexit resolution on Sept 18 "recalls that it will not proceed with any consent vote until the UK Parliament has approved an agreement with the EU."
2/ In other words, the EP won't ratify until the House of Commons does.
3/ However, there is wiggle room. According to a source, Article 26 means the EP could read an MV vote today as sufficient for the EP to ratify, even if the Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB) has not gone through all the stages, including the House of Lords
4/ And in that case the EP could ratify this week when it meets for its plenary session in Strasbourg. That would provide a certain amount of momentum...
5/ However, the main political groups in the EP might decide they need more time to fully digest what was agreed between Boris Johnson and the European Commission and endorsed by EU leaders last week. "We need to see what's in the bloody thing", says a senior EP source
6/ In particular, there is thought to be concern in the EP at Stormont having a role over how the treaty, as in the Ireland/NI Protocol part of it, is applied.
7/ This is not because the EP opposes the consent principle of the new arrangements for NI per se, but because it could set a precedent for regional parliaments around Europe to want a say in how any future EU-third country treaty is implemented
8/ Either way, tonight at 18hr in Strasbourg, the Conference of Presidents, ie the heads of all the political groups, will have to decide one way or another whether the EP should ratify the deal this week, or whether it should wait till there's a clearer picture from Westminster
9/ They'll take advice from the EP's Brexit Steering Group, which meets beforehand.
