So, it's 'No-deal' time.

[Workingman]

Bercow did the right thing to stop May bringing back her two-time failure before parliament. It has already gone down to the 1st and 4th biggest defeats in history and in 'normal' times this would have been the end for the PM and the government.

All the alternatives to May's disaster are now La-la land fantasies as we have run out of time. May has kicked the can so far down the road that it teeters on the cliff edge. All that is needed is a slight mis-tap and over we go...

The only way left to stop all this mess is to revoke A50, and we all know that no MP or party has the cojones to do that.

Cowards - the lot of them.

[medsec222]

I am not in agreement with you on John Bercow Frank. He is very selective in some of his decisions. Apparently he has found a ruling which sets a precedence and which prevents Mrs May from bringing back her bill again without substantial changes, yet only a few months ago he broke with Parliamentary precedence saying if Parliament always stuck with precedence nothing would ever get done. It seems he wants it both ways. Comparing him say, to Betty Boothroyd, he certainly falls short of her standards.

He maintains he is taking the moral high ground in ensuring the rules of Parliament are adhered to. He is not. In my opinion he is quite deliberately stirring up trouble for the Government in its last-ditch attempts to get some consensus of opinion. Why would anyone who holds such a privileged position as the Speaker try to do this. The country is in crisis and he should stop his posturing and let Government take its natural course.

[victor]

He is a slimy smug rat

[TheOstrich]

(For once ) I agree with you, WM.

Firstly, it's disingenuous for No.10 to say that they were taken by surprise by Bercow's application of that Parliamentary law. If even I knew it was Parliamentary law, so should they. How did I know? The Times actually published an article about it around 10 days ago!

Secondly, Bercow has done us all a favour blocking another vote on May's Brexit deal. The deal is no good for this country, no good for the people, and certainly no good for my temper. It is a cr*p deal negotiated by a blinkered Conservative leader completely fixated on the small picture, and who is too obtuse and convinced of her own right to now countenance ditching it. That she is still pursuing it speaks volumes …..

I would welcome a revoking of A50 and / or a second referendum. Best put it back to the people now as Parliament is both too incompetent and too rudderless to decide the matter on its own.

Medsec, I do agree with what you said about Bercow's "selective" decision making, but in this case, as stated above, I think he's actually done the right thing. If he had not done so, and Government allowed to take its natural course, we would either have a May's awful deal or a No Deal exit completely by default - and crucially without any form of meaningful and considered preparation, either side of the Channel. It's my view (FWIW) that both those deals would be worse than staying in now …...

[medsec222]

But has he done the right thing Ossie. If he has, it is not because of any decency he purports to have in upholding the established rules of the HoC. He must have been up all night peering through long passed dusty legislation in the hope he could scupper Brexit in one way or another. If his action does prove to be right for the good of the country, it is by default and not by any good intention on his part. This is not acceptable behaviour from the Speaker of the House of Commons, and especially not when the country is in crisis. There is no excuse Ossie and his smirking and preening does not help his case.

[Osc]

Let’s face it, none of the UK government has behaved in an acceptable manner. Pure incompetence has got your country into this awful mess, and there is nobody to lead you out of it.

[Workingman]

Meds the question about a motion being put before the House unchanged was asked in the HoC by a backbencher on a point of order during the debate leading up to meaningful vote Mk2. Speaker Bercow noted the point of order and that in itself should have woken the government up to potential problems re meaningful vote Mk3.

The question made it inevitable that Bercow would make a decision and announce it to the House. A surprise it was not.

Unless A50 is revoked then no-deal looks a racing cert, and I have a few worries about that. The first is that if it all goes pear shaped with the economy tanking and the £ sliding we are alone. There is no cavalry. The second is that if we then asked to rejoin the EU we could come up against one or more De Gaulle types with their 'Non, non, non'. Let us be honest here, some rabid Brexiteers wanted Brexit to hurt the EU, they made that very plain. A little bit of payback might be seen as justified by some in the EU. Karma. The third is that even if we do go back in we will have no rebate, no opt-outs, no veto, have to join Schengen and the Euro and follow the four freedoms. We might get in, but allies could be difficult to find. Our influence, compared to what we have today, would be hugely diminished.

Pure incompetence has got your country into this awful mess, and there is nobody to lead you out of it.

Quite, but at times like these it is not unknown for someone previously looked over to step forward. We can hope.

[AliasAggers]

Let’s face it, none of the UK government has behaved in an acceptable manner.
Pure incompetence has got your country into this awful mess, and there is nobody to lead you out of it.

That just about sums it up nicely. Osc.
We are suffering now from a complete lack of competent leadership in Parliament.

[Workingman]

Cheeeze! Sod it! Let us just crash out of the EU and get this 'king purgatory over and done with.

It has been 2 yrs and 9 months since the referendum and a week short of the two year A50 negotiations being started and we are no further forward. The new dates of May 22nd or April the 12th do not allow us to negotiate a 'new' deal nor to pass legislation to undo the current one.

All the 'alternatives' are mere fantasies, except one: revoke A50. That is not going to happen so we might as well crash and burn.

[TheOstrich]

Don't dismiss A50 revocation yet awhile, my friend …. if Parliament can seize control of the whole sorry state of affairs from May, then I'd say it'd still be on the cards - and it does seem to be generating a bit of traction!