The British government has said its Brexit bill, to implement the new deal negotiated with the EU, will be published on Monday.
Boris Johnson wants a vote in parliament on the agreement itself, but it is not clear whether this will be allowed because of procedural rules.
The House of Commons voted to delay approval for the deal until the accompanying legislation has been passed, to prevent a no-deal departure in the event that laws are not passed in time.
The EU has been taking account of the British request for another Brexit extension. Parliament’s lack of approval for the deal by Saturday obliged the prime minister to seek a delay.
Germany’s foreign minister said on Monday that a “short, technical extension” could be possible if there were “problems in Britain with the ratification”. Heiko Mass said he hoped the House of Commons would show “the necessary responsibility… to achieve an orderly Brexit”.
The House of Commons Speaker John Bercow will decide on Monday afternoon whether to allow a vote on the deal. He could refuse it on the grounds that the matter was considered in Saturday’s emergency session.
A spokesman for the prime minister said a vote on the deal would be pulled if lawmakers tried to make changes to it.
Battle for numbers
Boris Johnson said earlier he would bring legislation forward early this week and has vowed to take the UK out of the European Union on October 31.
UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab told the BBC that he is “confident” that the government will pass the deal Johnson struck up with EU leaders last week, saying the UK will leave by the October deadline.
“We believe we’ve got the numbers and we’ll keep talking to the DUP and see if there’s further reassurances that can be provided,” Raab told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show.
Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) have said they will vote against the deal, but conservatives have in the past relied on their support for a working majority in Parliament.
Johnson sent an unsigned letter to European Council President Donald Tusk on Saturday night requesting a Brexit delay until the end of January, as required by legislation that was passed in September that was meant to prevent a no-deal Brexit.
