Britain in 'constitutional crisis' following Brexit ruling

Prime Minister Theresa May sought a way forward at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday after being thrown a curve ball on Monday by the moderator of the House of Commons,who said she could not ask MPs to vote on her proposed Brexit withdrawal deal for a third time.

John Bercow, Parliament’s speaker, who ensures democratic rules are followed, said a question “may not be brought forward again during the same session (of Parliament)”, a decision he based on a “strong and longstanding convention” dating back to 1604.

May’s bill, he told Parliament, would need to be “different in terms of substance” and not just “different in terms of wording”.

The bill, which May negotiated with EU leaders over many months and which the EU approved in November, has been heavily defeated twice in the UK Parliament but May had hoped MPs would back it at the third time of asking because the March 29 date by which the UK is committed to leave the EU is fast approaching and, while many MPs dislike May’s deal, they would prefer it to a no-deal Brexit.

But, with the prospect of a third vote apparently off the table, May is likely to ask the EU for a lengthy postponement of the March 29 exit date. The Guardian newspaper said EU officials may even proactively offer such an extension, something May is expected to talk about while in Brussels for an EU summit on Thursday.

The BBC reported on Tuesday afternoon that unnamed Cabinet sources had said May planned to write to the EU to ask for the deadline to be put back to June 30, and for a longer delay, possibly of up to two years, if needed.

Any delay is likely to mean Britain will participate in upcoming EU elections. And a lengthy delay will motivate those seeking to thwart Brexit, including those lobbying for a second referendum.

May, meanwhile, is also understood to be considering ways around the parliamentary procedure quoted by Bercow.

Robert Buckland, the UK’s solicitor general and one of the nation’s most senior lawyers, said Bercow’s ruling has triggered a “constitutional crisis”.

He told the BBC: “Frankly, we could have done without this, but it’s something we’re going to have to negotiate with and deal with.”

Many of Britain’s right-of-center Brexit-supporting newspapers criticized Bercow, with the Daily Mail accusing him of an “act of sabotage” because of “anti-Brexit prejudice” and the Daily Express labeling him “The Brexit Destroyer” in a front page headline.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told journalists on Tuesday she will battle for an orderly Brexit “to the last hour of the deadline on 29 March”.

“We don’t have a lot of time for it, but still have a few days,” she said.

The Financial Times, meanwhile, reports the United States bank Citigroup’s new broker-dealer operation in Frankfurt, Germany, is fully operational. The bank set the operation up so it can trade on the main European exchanges and issue in capital markets on behalf of institutional and corporate clients that it will not be able to serve through its British entities in the event of a no-deal Brexit.