THE Commons Speaker has “sabotaged” Theresa May’s Brexit plan as he stunned Westminster by insisting, with just 11 days to go to exit day, that the Prime Minister could only resubmit it for a vote if she made substantial changes.
Robert Buckland, the Solicitor General, claimed John Bercow by his intervention had plunged Parliament into a “major constitutional crisis” and suggested the only way out might be to suspend Parliament and seek a fresh vote in a completely new session. “Frankly, we could have done without this,” he declared with exasperation.
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Another Government insider suggested the Speaker had “sabotaged” the Government’s plan while one Conservative backbencher branded him “Lord Protector”.
On another day of parliamentary intrigue, Downing St was fending off reporters’ questions about if and when the Prime Minister would seek to bring a third meaningful vote on her deal. It stayed silent on the progress, if any, on its talks with Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionists.
Ian Blackford, the SNP leader, who with fellow opposition chiefs will today meet Jeremy Corbyn to urge him to swing fully behind a People’s Vote, said: “We are in a crisis…We need to put this back to the people.
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“Theresa May’s deal is dead and the Speaker has announced it. He is quite right because…Erskine May[the parliamentary rulebook] is quite specific that you can’t bring the same motion forward in the same session.”
The dramatic development at Westminster came as a new report today warns rural Scotland will be hollowed out by a 21st century version of the Highland Clearances with depopulation and a lack of funding compounded by the ongoing upheaval of Brexit.
Asked by the charity, Scottish Rural Action, to create post-Brexit newspaper headlines, locals suggested: “Highland clearances 2: this time it’s young people” and, more starkly and concisely: “We’re f*****.”
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