Speaker Bercow

 Speaker Bercow.

 

 

The issue about Speaker Bercow's decision not to allow the Government to reintroduce their twice defeated 'Withdrawal Agreement' a third time has Parliamentary precedence.

The importance of 'precedence' in other words following or using the example of what has gone on before as a reason for making a decision about what is a procedure today is often used, especially in law where the practice and past decisions made by previous court rulings are the basis of common law jurisprudence.

Speaker Bercow,  effectively the chairperson in Parliament who's main duty is to make decisions in keeping with the rules of the House of Commons, are binding on Members of Parliament. His ruling touches on the provision limiting the 'number of times' a reading of a bill to a sitting parliament  can be reintroduced for a vote to allow its passage through Parliament. The argument is that if a bill or reading has been defeated twice it cannot be reintroduced (unless it is amended to propose something new) because it simply wastes parliamentary time. 
Mrs May has been engaged in running down the clock. With a negotiating deadline and with her being the sole authorised body to cobble together a set of proposals she thought she held parliament over a barrel in that unless her proposal was accepted, no deal would come into effect and we would plunge out of the EU without a deal at all. 

The question of needing a deal is debatable since it could be argued that we strike deals after we leave under Initially WTO rules and then as business determines we come to agreement in which all parties agree for the common good. 

It of course carries the risk that the 'political imperative' will get in the way of common sense and the intransigence of the EU up to date is due to their fear that an easy Brexit will lead other EU nations to follow and also try to leave. 

Mrs Mays plan of running down the clock and forcing parliamentarians to vote her plan through in the absence of anything else has received  a massive (spanner in the works) shock and I wish I were a fly on the wall at this mornings emergency cabinet meeting where they try to work out what should be done next.

Bercow, is a much hated figure on the Conservative benches because he has been seen to effect to break the 'power of Government' in favour of 'Parliamentary power'. 

His application of constitutional precedent over the power of Prime ministerial diktat is systemic of his belief in proper democracy and given today's ruling and the possible cul-de-sac which it introduces so close to the deadline of leaving the EU, the imperative of democracy over Party power in making momentum decisions is brought into sharp focus.

The newspapers are scathing of Bercow this morning but their main culprit surely should be Mrs May and her tactic of trying to strong arming Parliament by trying to force them to accept what they have twice thrown out as a bad deal. 

For an avid Parliament watcher like myself this is high theatre but of course the consequences might also carry a high price.