BRITISH MPS VOTE TO DELAY BREXIT

British lawmakers Thursday voted to postpone the country’s departure from the European Union but, in a rare victory for Prime Minister Theresa May, narrowly failed to wrest control of the Brexit process from her battered government.

After days of turmoil, May fended off — by just two votes — a remarkable power grab by lawmakers frustrated at months of political deadlock that has left the country in limbo with just 15 days to go before its scheduled departure from the bloc.

They later voted by 412202 for a motion that means that Britain will almost certainly not leave the European Union as scheduled March 29, as May has repeatedly promised it would.

What remains unclear now is how long the delay will be. May plans to hold a third vote on her unpopular plan for withdrawal, despite having suffered two staggering defeats on it already.

If the prime minister should succeed in a third attempt, she would then request a short delay — no more than three months — from EU leaders. That presumably would be agreed to next week at an EU summit in Brussels.

But the motion noted that should her plan go down to defeat once again, May might have to ask European leaders for a much longer delay, with unknown consequences.

The votes Thursday were a relief for May, whose control over Brexit has melted away in recent days, culminating in open defiance from members of her own cabinet in a vote Wednesday rejecting a “no-deal” Brexit.

It had long seemed possible that a cross-party consensus for a softer Brexit existed within the House of Commons, but that proved not to be the case.

And so lawmakers could not quite bring themselves to allow the body to test whether a majority would support a softer Brexit than May has offered. That would mean leaving the European Union but remaining in a customs union with the bloc, or keeping even closer ties, minimizing the economic dislocation.

May and her allies are again working to win over 10 lawmakers from Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, and a bigger group of pro-brexit hard-liners in her own Conservative Party.

The amendment to take control of the process failed by 314 votes to 312. Oliver Letwin, a Conservative Party lawmaker who co-sponsored the measure, calling for indicative votes, told the government he and his colleagues had entered into rebellion reluctantly.

“None of us who has put this forward prefer to grab the order paper,” he said, addressing one of May’s top lieutenants in debate. “None of us prefer these elaborate devices. We seek above all, and only, to ensure that the House has the opportunity to rescue our fellow citizens from a fate that both he and I wish to avoid.”

MATT DUNHAM / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Pro-brexit and anti-brexit supporters shout at each other opposite the Houses of Parliament in London, where British lawmakers voted Thursday to postpone Britain’s departure from the European Union.