Theresa May’s disdain for parliamentary procedure is a sign of a government on life support

Where once parliament was going to take back control and have the House of Commons hold a “meaningful vote” on Brexit, we now discover that no one is in control of Britain’s proposed exit from the European Union and that the best the MPs can expect is a meaningless vote on the “deal” as late as January, by which time it could be too late to do anything about it.

So ministers’ contempt for parliament goes some way beyond the formal finding of contempt that was passed last week, when the attorney general was forced to publish the advice on the backstop provisions of the withdrawal agreement. The government did not, pointedly, publish all of the advice, covering such areas as unilateral abrogation of the treaty or the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, as the Commons required him to do and as veteran Tory rebel Bill Cash has repeatedly pressed the prime minister about. The government is too used to getting away with things.

Sadly, the speaker, John Bercow, seems unable to enforce the rights and privileges of the Commons. He interrupted the prime minister’s statement to reprimand her for the “grave discourtesy” that had been shown to parliament by her panicked decision to pull that vital “meaningful” vote. He suggested, forcibly, the correct way to resolve matters, through, say, a motion to adjourn the House. She simply shrugged and moved on: no word of an apology, even. It seems that some four centuries since the Commons managed to wrest control of the nation’s business from the Crown, it has lost its nerve to hold the government to account. Right now, ironically, the European parliament is demonstrating greater independence of mind and a feistier spirit.

Things, then, could hardly be more chaotic. The best that can be said for Theresa May’s tactics is that she is determined to make MPs choose between her deal and a chaotic “hard Brexit”. The more she is able to push them into that binary choice, the better the chance they will, in turn, feel obliged to vote for her policy because the alternative would be so disastrous for the country. That is why she is determined to ensure the Commons is never allowed an opportunity to rule out a hard Brexit. She needs to keep that bogeyman alive so as to frighten pro-European rebels on her own benches and in the opposition parties alike. She is gambling that enough of them will back her, reluctantly, while some will abstain or make themselves scarce when the big vote arrives. Leaving the date and the crucial vote until the middle of January will concentrate minds, Ms May and her whips must calculate, and, with some rubbery assurances from European leaders about the backstop, be sufficient to get her deal “over the line”.

It need not be so, if Mr Bercow and democrats in all parts of the House of Commons decide to assert themselves. If parliament is serious about doing its job, then it ought to start acting that way. Some are speaking out and taking action. Hilary Benn and Dominic Grieve have led by example in tabling important amendments in the public interest. They at least are tireless in defending the institution of parliament. In the chamber, Yvette Cooper warned about the dangers of the tricks of the government, and received only the limpest of pledges from the minister, Robin Walker. Mr Bercow has already indicated he is aware of the outrages being committed. He has done this through public remarks and his decision to grant an emergency debate on this suspension of normal democratic procedures. He – and others – need to do more than that, such is the depths of this crisis.

For far too long the government has simply ignored unwelcome motions passed against its policies after opposition day debates, and the leader of the House of Commons, Andrea Leadsom, has even derided the procedure MPs have had to turn to, the humble address, as archaic. That it is, but it’s only wheeled out by Labour because the government shows such disdain for the conventional votes MPs cast. It is as if Ms May had never lost her parliamentary majority in her snap election last year. As the Democratic Unionist Party is reminding her, Ms May leads a minority government in a hung parliament, and cannot behave like she won a landslide last year by simply pretending she did.

Once again the people are locked out, and can only gaze with horror and dismay at the antics of their elected representatives. MPs speak, some disingenuously, about respecting the people and the referendum result of 2016, but they show precious little sign of wanting to respect public opinion, as it stands in 2018 and 2019, while No 10 cares little for what MPs, apart from the Tory whips, have to say about anything. Before their very eyes the electorate are watching their democracy being devalued and ignored. The remedy is simple – parliament must come to a decision. Whether it can or not, and even if this process stretches into January, Article 50 should be paused and a Final Say held to endorse it democratically. It’s called democracy.