MPs are to vote on the British government's EU Withdrawal Agreement tomorrow, but the motion will not count as a third attempt to pass a "meaningful vote" on Theresa May's deal as it will not cover the future relationship with Europe.
House of Commons Speaker John Bercow cleared the motion for debate, ruling that it complies with parliamentary conventions which bar ministers from asking MPs to vote repeatedly on the same proposals.
He said: "I'm pleased to report that the Government's motion for tomorrow's debate complies with the tests set out in Erskine May... that motions that are the same or substantially the same must not be put before the House more than once in a Parliamentary session.
"The previous meaningful vote encompassed both the Withdrawal Agreement and the Political Declaration - this motion covers the former but not the latter.
"I'm glad the principle of the House determining a motion definitively once and for all in each session has been accepted and upheld and that that principle cannot be circumvented by the assertion of a notwithstanding clause or a paving motion.
"In short, the motion is new, substantially different and in conformity with the requirements of my ruling of 18 March, reiterated on 25 and 27 March."
If passed by MPs, the vote would qualify the UK to be granted an automatic delay to 22 May of the formal date of Brexit.
But it would not allow Parliament to go ahead and ratify the withdrawal package, as Brexit legislation allows this only after the passage of a "meaningful vote" on both the Withdrawal Agreement and a Political Declaration on the future relationship.
Moving the motion to enable the debate to take place on 29 March - which was initially slated as Brexit day - the Leader of the Commons Andrea Leadsom urged MPs to back the deal "so that we can leave the EU in an orderly way that gives businesses and people the certainty that they need".
Ms Leadsom said it was crucial to make every effort to approve the Withdrawal Agreement this week, and said the Government will ask parliament to declare that it wants to leave the EU as soon as possible.
She said Britain does not want to be in a situation where it needs to ask for a further extension from the EU.
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Mrs May must secure Commons approval for her deal by 11pm tomorrow if the UK is to be given an automatic delay to 22 May of the date on which it leaves the EU.
This evening, the Labour party has said it will not back the motion.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said his MPs could not support a "blindfold" Brexit with no indication of the future arrangements.
He said: "There's no way out of it once you have signed it and gone into it and we are not prepared to support the Prime Minister on this.
"We want to see a discussion about both the issues and, in particular, the crucial future arrangements and that is why we have proposed a customs union and access to markets and, crucially, protection of consumer, environmental and working rights."
Mr Corbyn said Labour would not seek to amend tomorrow’s motion, "we will vote against it".
He added that on Monday MPs would have another chance to consider the issues, where Labour would put forward its position on an "economic relationship which also gives us those guarantees and does not lead us into the direction of turning this country into some kind of low-tax, offshore, deregulated economy, opening ourselves up to American trade arrangements".
And the DUP said yesterday that its opposition to the Withdrawal Agreement remained unchanged.
Earlier, Mrs May's de facto deputy said that parliament's inconclusive votes on alternative Brexit solutions showed that her deal was the only way out of the country's impasse on how to leave the European Union.
"I think what those results demonstrate is that there are no easy simple options," Cabinet Office minister David Lidington said in a speech to business leaders.
"The deal the government has negotiated is the best option available."
The EU has urged Britain to provide a way forward on Brexit, taking note that the parliament had failed to agree a fresh solution to the UK's divorce from the bloc.
"The European Commission takes note of the indicative votes in the House of Commons last night. This is part of an ongoing political process in the UK, which we fully respect," EU spokesman Margaritis Schinas said.
"We counted eight 'no's last night, now we need a 'yes' on the way forward," he added.
Mr Schinas was referring to the parliament's unprecedented step on Tuesday of voting a choice of alternate solutions to the near-dead divorce deal Mrs May reached with Brussels after 17 months of talks.
But none of the eight options secured a majority and another vote has been set for Monday on some of the proposals.
A proposal to hold a second referendum - a popular idea with EU supporters - came second while those promoting a cleaner break finished near the bottom.
Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel told journalists in Brussels that without a solution from Britain, EU leaders would meet again on 10 or 11 April to discuss next steps.
Additional Reporting: Reuters
