Brexit: John Bercow warns Tory hopefuls that MPs will block no-deal Brexit
The speaker claims "the idea that there is an inevitability of a no-deal Brexit would be a quite wrong suggestion".
Wednesday 29 May 2019 20:27, UK
John Bercow, the speaker of the House of Commons, has suggested MPs will thwart plans for a no-deal Brexit if they are put forward by the next leader of the Conservative Party.
After Theresa May's announcement that she will soon depart 10 Downing Street - following her failure to pass an EU withdrawal agreement - some of those vying to be her successor have claimed that the UK must leave the bloc later this year, even if that means crashing out without a deal.
But in an apparent warning to leadership candidates, Mr Bercow predicted a majority of MPs would once again mobilise to block the UK leaving the EU without a deal, as they previously did in April.
He has also dismissed suggestions he would step down as speaker this summer arguing it was not "sensible to vacate the chair" while the issue of Brexit was unresolved.
Speaking at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC, Mr Bercow said: "The appetite of the House to have its say has recently been whetted and that appetite is not exhausted.
"Indeed, some would say, it's veracious.
"The House will want to have its say and the idea that the House won't have its say is just for the birds.
"Parliament is a big player in this."
He added: "The idea that parliament is going to be... evacuated from the centre stage of debate on Brexit is unimaginable. It is simply unimaginable."
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Last month, EU leaders agreed to a UK request for Brexit to be postponed again - through a further extension of the Article 50 negotiating period - to set a new deadline of 31 October.
Yet, despite admitting that "legally" the "default position" is a no-deal Brexit on that date if a withdrawal agreement is not passed, Mr Bercow disputed that such a scenario is a foregone conclusion.
He said: "There is a difference between a legal default position and what the interplay of political forces in parliament will facilitate.
"It's not for me to seek to claim to know what is the will of the people... that's not a matter for the speaker.
"My job is stand up for the right of the House of Commons institutionally and the rights of individual MPs to express themselves and to try to take policy forward as they think fit.
"So I think there is much debate still to be had.
"The idea that there is an inevitability of a no-deal Brexit would be a quite wrong suggestion.
"There is no inevitability whatsoever about that."
Mr Bercow also admitted he "possibly unwisely" revealed he backed Remain at the 2016 EU referendum, despite his role as Speaker requiring him to be impartial.
His latest comments could raise fresh fears among Brexiteer MPs, some of whom have already accused the speaker of bias in favour of Remain supporters, that he will act in the interests of those determined to block a no-deal departure.
But Mr Bercow stressed he "isn't trying to signal parliament should do 'x' or 'y'".
In a separate interview with The Guardian, Mr Bercow also said he had no plan to quit the speaker's role in the near future.
He said: "I've never said anything about going in July of this year. Secondly, I do feel that now is a time in which momentous events are taking place and there are great issues to be resolved and in those circumstances, it doesn't seem to me sensible to vacate the chair."
Mr Bercow added: "If I had any intention to announce on that matter... I would do so to parliament first."