European Parliament Member Says Commons Speaker Right To Prevent Vote On Same Brexit Deal

Speaker for the UK House of Commons John Bercow was right to stop the government from bringing the same withdrawal deal to the parliament for a vote, Steven Woolfe, a UK member of the European Parliament, told Sputnik

LONDON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th March, 2019) Speaker for the UK House of Commons John Bercow was right to stop the government from bringing the same withdrawal deal to the parliament for a vote, Steven Woolfe, a UK member of the European Parliament, told Sputnik.

In a surprise announcement on Monday, Bercow said that the government could not bring the same deal to vote unless it has been substantially changed or a new parliament session has been called.

"It was pretty clear for anybody who knows our constitution that for a long time it's been a precedent that you can't keep bringing back the same motion over and over again ... So he [Bercow] was right to do so and I think the problem it's highlighted is that the government is a complete shambles. It has been unable to get a deal through and just wants to keep pushing and applying pressure to [members of parliament] MPs with the fear that otherwise they won't get Brexit.

Which just shows how bad they are as a government," Woolfe said.

The government's deal has already been rejected twice, but Prime Minister Theresa May indicated in a letter to European Council President Donald Tusk that she was still planning to bring the deal for a new vote despite Bercow's intervention. May told Tusk the United Kingdom would seek a Brexit extension until June 30, instead of originally expected March 29.

At the same time, a spokeswoman for the European Commission remarked on Wednesday that the commission's president, Jean-Claude Juncker, had warned May that the United Kingdom would have to leave by May 23, before the European elections, if it did not plan to hold the vote for the European Parliament.