Nigel Dodds of the DUP has not yet agreed a deal with Theresa May to bring his troop of ten MPs – and some of their Tory ERG Brexiter allies – into her camp for that momentous and precedent-smashing third “meaningful vote” on her Brexit deal.
This means as of now the third “meaningful vote” remains the stuff of myth and legend; as I said on Saturday, it may not happen at all, or at least not before the European Union council on Thursday.
A minister close to the PM tells me the cabinet expects the EU to grant the UK a Brexit delay of nine months – which would of course require the UK to participate in May’s elections to the European Parliament.
But here is the important point about this delay that this minister was desperate for me to know: “The nine months would be a maximum; if we ratified the Withdrawal Agreement at any point before the end of nine months, we could leave the EU much sooner”.
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