No 3rd vote on May's Brexit deal: UK Speaker

London: In a fresh blow to embattled Prime Minister Theresa May on Brexit, House of Commons Speaker John Bercow, in a surprise move, disallowed any attempt to hold a third vote on her withdrawal deal with the EU which has already been rejected by MPs twice. Prime Minister May will meet her Cabinet later as she considers her next steps on quitting the European Union, after her plans were thrown into doubt by Speaker Bercow.

May had been considering a third vote on her Brexit deal, which has already been rejected twice in the House. Bercow, in a surprise move, ruled on Monday that he would not allow another vote on the government motion if it remained "substantially the same" after it was defeated by a huge 230-vote margin in January and a smaller 149-vote margin last week.

He said parliamentary conventions dating back to 1604 meant MPs could not be asked to vote on precisely the same subject twice, indicating that he had allowed the second vote as the government had claimed some changes to the controversial Irish backstop clause offered an improved deal for Britain's exit from the 28-member European Union on March 29.

"It is a necessary rule to ensure the sensible use of the House's time and the proper respect for the decisions which it takes," he said.