Amendment that may have saved Theresa May from Brexit humiliation rejected by Speaker

Speaker John Bercow rejected an amendment that may have minimised the severity of her expected Brexit defeat

A Tory amendment that could have could have reduced May’s losses over the Brexit deal was rejected by Speaker John Bercow on Tuesday ahead of the crunch parliamentary vote. The amendment, tabled by Conservative MP Andrew Murrison, advocated for the Irish backstop solution to "expire on 31 December 2021". Many Tories championed the "sunset clause" amendment as they hoped it could draw support and show the European Union what was needed for a deal to pass. However, the Speaker likely rejected the amendment because it was, in actuality, pushed by the government and instead selected four other amendments on the final day of debates over Brexit. One is an amendment tabled by Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party which rejects the prime minister’s deal and demands a customs union and a stronger single market deal. Bercow chose another amendment tabled by the Scottish Nationalist Party calling to reject the Brexit deal under the assertion that it is damaging for Scotland, Wales and the whole of the UK. Another amendment tabled by Tory MP Edward Leigh is also related to the Irish backstop. The amendment calls for the backstop to be temporary and allows the UK to invoke international law to ensure the withdrawal agreement is terminated if attempts to extend the backstop occur beyond 2021. The final amendment was tabled by a Conservative MP John Baron and says the Irish backstop can be terminated by the UK without approval from the EU. Voting starts at 7pm tonight on these five votes. The Speaker’s decisions on these amendments pushes the historic Brexit vote back to around 8:30pm. The prime minister is expected to face a bruising defeat over her proposed Brexit deal. Despite the loss, May will likely remain in office and push for another vote.