Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Brexit’s a shambles
-JEREMY CORBYN LAST NIGHT Yes 202, No 432 .... MAJORITY: 230
THERESA May last night trudged out of her Brexit defeat with Jeremy Corbyn’s damning words ringing in her ears.
The humiliated PM lost the vote on her EU plan by a staggering 230 majority that leaves Britain staring at a catastrophic no deal – or no Brexit.
After the crushing defeat, which followed two-and-a-half years of botched negotiations with Brussels, Mr Corbyn launched a motion of no confidence in her government. It will be voted on at 7pm today.
But the stubborn PM refused to quit, despite the blow to her Brexit plans that left her stripped of all authority as MPS finally buried her deal.
Instead, she plans to resurrect it and try yet again to win over MPS before another vote on Monday.
Mr Corbyn branded Mrs May’s defeat “catastrophic” and said it represented an “absolutely decisive” verdict on her handling of Brexit. He added: “She is only attempting to reach out now to try to keep her failed process and deal alive after it’s been so roundly rejected by Parliament on behalf of the people of this country.
“At every turn the Prime Minister has closed the door on dialogue. In the last two years she’s only had one priority… the Conservative Party. Her governing principle of delay and denial has reached the end of the line.”
Mr Corbyn’s no-confidence motion could force an early general election if it wins the support of more than 50% of MPS. But his hopes of winning were undermined when the DUP’S Sammy Wilson said the party’s 10 MPS will back Mrs May in her fight for survival.
MPS voted 432 to 202 against her Brexit plans, which critics had warned would leave us tied to the EU without any say on it.
The huge Tory rebellion of 118 Tory MPS included fervent Brexiteers such as Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-mogg as well as leading Remainers Anna Soubry and Dominic Grieve.
Her two former Brexit secretaries David Davis and Dominic Raab also voted against the deal.
The 230-vote margin of defeat was the worst suffered by any government and in normal circumstances would be enough to force a PM from office.
But Mrs May made clear she plans to cling on, holding talks with MPS to find “genuinely negotiable” solutions she can take back to Brussels.
She pledged to open cross-party talks with senior Labour MPS over the next few days to help save Brexit – but the invitation did not initially appear to extend to Mr Corbyn.
And the PM seemed to rule out any dramatic changes to her deal with aides insisting it would form the basis of her Plan B.
But she was last night looking increasingly boxed in with her Cabinet, her party and Parliament all urging her to change tack.
Mrs May said: “The House has spoken and this government will listen. It is clear this House does not support this deal, but tonight’s vote tells us nothing about what it does support.”
As noisy crowds gathered outside
In the last two years Mrs May has had only one priority – the Conservative Party JEREMY CORBYN RALLIES THE HOUSE TO VOTE DOWN TORY GOVERNMENT
I urge the UK to clarify its intentions as soon as possible. Time is almost up JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER RESPONDS TO BREXIT DEAL DEFEAT YESTERDAY pippa.crerar@mirror.co.uk @Pippacrerar
Westminster, she promised to approach talks Tory backbenchers, the DUP and Labour MPS “in a constructive spirit” but Downing Street immediately set out her red lines for talks.
No10 sources appeared to rule out discussing a customs union, a key Labour demand thought likely to command a majority, saying the PM wanted an independent trade deal.
They also played down expectations of her compromising over a second referendum or extending Article 50.
Mrs May insisted she was not running down the clock to no-deal. She added: “Every day that passes without this issue being resolved means more uncertainty, more bitterness and more rancour.”
But Labour MP Yvette Cooper said: “This was the biggest government defeat in over 100 years.
“The PM says she now will listen and work cross-party but she had 30 months to do that and she repeatedly refused.
“She cannot just carry on as if nothing has changed.”
Hilary Benn, Labour chair of the Brexit committee, added: “The PM says she is now going to reach out across the House of Commons, she could have done that two-and-a-half years ago”.
But Attorney General Geoffrey Cox confirmed minimal changes were expected. He said: “This agreement will have to return, in much the same form, with much the same content.”
Remainer Tory minister Amber Rudd, backed by several Cabinet colleagues, led calls for the PM to reach out to Labour MPS to try to reach a compromise.
Senior Labour figures indicated to the Mirror they could be open to negotiation.
It emerged PM’S chief Brexit adviser, Olly Robbins, has been working on secret contingency plans for cross-party talks. Mrs May was urged her to return to Brussels to demand more concessions
EU chiefs warned the PM to “urgently” set out her plans as the clock was ticking down to Brexit. Eurocrat Jean-claude Juncker said: “I note with regret the outcome of the vote in the Commons this evening.
“I urge the UK to clarify its intentions as soon as possible. Time is almost up.”
EU Council president Donald Tusk added: “If a deal is impossible, and no one wants no-deal, then who will finally have the courage to say what the only positive solution is?”