Chaos as Boris Johnson accidentally brings Theresa May's Brexit deal back from the dead

REUTERS/Leon Neal/Pool

Former UK Prime Minister Theresa May and Prime Minister Boris Johnson

LONDON - There were chaotic scenes in the House of Commons on Wednesday evening after the government apparently accidentally allowed Members of Parliament to approve a plan which would force them to vote again on Theresa May's thrice-rejected Brexit deal.

The House of Commons was voting on a plan tabled by opposition MPs designed to prevent Johnson from seeking a no-deal Brexit in October, which was approved.

But before that, parliament also accidentally passed an amendment to the plan, tabled by Labour MP Stephen Kinnock and others, which would bring Theresa May's Brexit deal back before the Commons for another vote.

The amendment was approved because the Conservatives didn't offer any tellers to count the "no" votes. That meant Lindsay Hoyle, the deputy Commons speaker, had no choice but to automatically approve the plan.

The bill is only at the committee stage, so MPs could reverse the plan at report stage, which is likely to be early next week when the bill comes back to the Commons.

Parliamentary experts also indicated that the plan did not appear to have legal effect.

Graeme Cowie, a House of Commons clerk, said: "I'm not sure what this amendment actually does."

He added: "It doesn't even (so far as I can see) require the Withdrawal Agreement Bill to be published, let alone actually debated."

Jack Simson Caird, senior research fellow in parliaments and the rule of law at the Bingham Centre, said: "This does not create a legal duty to do put the WAB [Withdrawal Agreement Bill] (or anything else) before the House of Commons."

The former prime minister's plan was rejected three times by parliament this year and ultimately brought Theresa May's premiership to a crashing end in July.

Boris Johnson, who replaced her in Downing Street, has called the deal "anti-democratic" and voted against it twice.

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