Ties with mother country ‘would improve’ if UK leaves the EU

PM calls on no-confidence vote after historic defeat on plan

THE Brexit shambles could have a lot of upside for Australians, with experts saying trade, investment and migration with the UK could all increase.

Prime Minister Theresa May’s government will face a no-confidence vote this morning after the House of Commons humiliated her with a record-breaking, 230-vote defeat of her Brexit bill.

If the UK does end up leaving the European Union on March 29, securing a working visa in the UK is expected to be easier, as would be buying a property or starting a business.

Strengthening ties between the UK and the Commonwealth have also been talked up by Brexit supporters, including British MP Boris Johnson, who said the UK “betrayed” its relationship with Australia in 1973 when it joined the European Economic Community (now called the Euro- pean Union). Australia’s twoway trade with the UK was worth $26.6 billion in 2017, and could rise faster than at present. Sydney University professor Simon Tormey said: “If you listen to the UK hard Brexiteers … they say they would come to Australia with an army of trade beneficiaries to work out some better deals than the one Australia already has with the EU,” he said.

PRIME Minister Theresa May’s Government will face a no-confidence vote this morning after the House of Commons humiliated her with a record-breaking, 230-vote defeat of her Brexit bill.

MPs voted 432-202 to defeat her plans for a managed exit from the European Union, throwing the UK into chaos just 71 days before the Brexit divorce takes place.

The wholesale rejection of the Prime Minister’s bill has greatly increased the chance of a no-deal Brexit, where the UK crashes out of the EU on March 29 without any agreements in place on customs, immigration, people and cargo movement or national security.

It has also raised the chances of Brexit being cancelled, potentially via the route of calling a second referendum, a possibility that saw the British pound rise after the vote.

Knowing she would almost certainly survive thanks to the support of minority government partners the DUP, Mrs May dared Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to call on the vote of no-confidence, getting to her feet seconds after the bill was voted down.

“We need to confirm whether this Government still enjoys the confidence of the House,’’ she said, in extraordinary scenes inside the historic Palaces of Westminster.

“I can confirm that if the official Opposition table it (a motion of no-confidence) this evening … the Government will make time to debate it tomorrow.’’

Mr Corbyn responded by saying he had already tabled the motion, which, if success- ful, would trigger a general election. “I am pleased that motion will be debated tomorrow so this House can give its verdict on the sheer incompetence of this Government and pass that motion of noconfidence,’’ he said.

The UK is now in uncharted waters, and no one knows what will happen as the clock ticks down to the Brexit deadline at 11pm on March 29.