THE HOUSE OF Commons will today debate and vote on Theresa May’s Brexit deal for a third time.

It had been unsure whether House Speaker John Bercow would allow another vote on May’s deal, after stating that substantial changes would have to be made to what MPs were voting on.

A workaround was found as the two previous votes were on the draft Withdrawal Agreement and the Political Declaration on the Future Relationship; today’s vote will only be on the former.

“The motion is new, substantially different,” Bercow told parliament, adding that he would accept amendments to the Brexit deal.

However, there was confusion in the parliament after Leader of the House Andrea Leadsom said this wouldn’t be a ‘Meaningful Vote’.

MPs were unsure as to whether it was legally acceptable to split the two documents; Bercow said it wasn’t a matter for him to decide whether it was legal, only whether it was orderly.

One MP pointed out that the Withdrawal Agreement and the Political Declaration were “two horns on a goat’s head” and cannot be separated. Bercow replied that it was a political issue, but not an issue for him as chair.

Attorney General Geoffrey Cox said the motion was “perfectly reasonable and perfectly lawful”, adding that “we could not let the time to expire tomorrow” without giving a chance for MPs to vote whether to allow May’s deal and avoid a no-deal Brexit.

The vote will take place on the original date that the UK was due to leave the EU, 29 March. This has been pushed back to 12 April if the deal is rejected, and 22 May if the deal is passed.

Front pages 

The latest Brexit twist is the main story on most of the British newspapers’ front pages, with headlines such as ‘Come on Arlene!’ (the DUP is unlikely to support the deal), ‘ One Last Chance’, ‘Darkest Hour for Democracy’, and ‘Johnson Primed and Ready for No 10′. 

Snowy – the dog of another possible May successor, Michael Gove – also makes an appearance.  

With reporting from Gráinne Ní Aodha

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