Election looms
Country set for return to the polls as May loses third vote on Brexit
THERESA May threatened to trigger a general election after her hated Brexit deal suffered its third defeat yesterday.
On the day we were due to leave the EU, the Prime Minister instead notched up a humiliating hat-trick as the Commons again voted down her Withdrawal Agreement.
And immediately after slumping to a 344-286 loss, she warned MPs: “I fear we are reaching the limits of this process in this House.”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: “The House has been clear this deal now has to change, there has to be an alternative found.
“If the Prime Minister can’t accept that then she must go – not at an indeterminate date but now, so that we can decide the future of this country through a general election.”
No10 later stressed Mrs May did not believe an election was in the national interest but a source said: “The House has set itself a number of questions and failed to answer them.”
The PM’s latest defeat means we must prepare to hold European elections on May 23 and has fuelled fears Brexit will never happen.
EU Council President Donald Tusk has summoned bloc leaders, including Mrs May, to Brussels for an emergency summit on April 10.
MPs, who tried and failed to thrash out their own solution on Wednesday, will seize the Commons agenda again on Monday as they try to plot a way out of the chaos.
Downing Street will hold weekend crisis talks with the DUP and Labour MPs from Leavesupport heartlands as the Government aims to bring the deal for a fourth bid before April 10.
But Mrs May suffered a fresh blow as DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds said: “I would stay in the European Union rather than risk Northern Ireland’s position. That’s how strongly I feel about the Union.”
One way of setting a way forward next week could be MPs getting a run-off vote between the PM’s deal and another option backed by MPs. Indicative votes held on Wednesday showed relatively strong support for a customs union, though it still failed to secure a majority.
When options are sifted further on Monday, it could become the least-worst Brexit scenario for MPs across the House. At that point, No10 would float a choice between Mrs May’s deal or the option supported by the Commons.
Insiders hope to present the vote as a straight run-off – forcing
Tory Leavers to back the PM’s Withdrawal Agreement or accept a customs union, which they have campaigned against. Should the Speaker allow it, the vote could come on Wednesday – but Mrs May is not bound to accept the result.
As things stand, we are now due to exit on April 12 and Stefaan De Rynck, a senior adviser to EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, said: “The no-deal today... is a likely scenario.” Mrs May said yesterday that backing her deal would mean we avoid taking part in elections and can exit the bloc on May 22.
With thousands of pro-Brexit protesters packed into Parliament Square, the PM exploited what should have been Brexit Day to try to shame MPs into backing her.
She said: “It’s the right thing for our country, it’s the right thing for our constituents.” But her bid flopped when 34 Tory rebels joined Labour MPs, Scottish and Welsh nationalists, the Lib Dems and others marching into the “No” lobby.
Moments after the vote, which critics branded a “political stunt” on the symbolic day, the Tories’ Instagram account posted a picture of Mr Corbyn with the words: “Labour just voted to stop Brexit.” Just five Labour MPs backed Mrs May and two abstained.
But the Tory rebellion was scaled down when former Cabinet ministers Boris Johnson, Dominic Raab and Iain Duncan Smith made U-turns to support her. Mr Johnson claimed: “It is very painful to vote for this deal but I hope we can now work together to remedy its defects.”
The 58-vote margin followed the 230-vote defeat in January and the 149 reverse earlier this month. A No10 source said that the margins were “at least going in the right direction”.
ON what was meant to be Brexit Day the House of Commons rejected Theresa May’s deal for a third time.
Exasperated voters now look on Parliament in despair – but the fault for this dispiriting deadlock lies squarely with Mrs May.
Her stubborn incompetence has stopped the Commons uniting around a Brexit plan.
Instead of trying to find compromises she repeatedly put her party’s interest first.
It is clear from this week’s indicative votes that a majority could be found for a Brexit that would see the UK stay in a customs union.
This would help solve the Irish border question and protect jobs and business.
Yet Mrs May has refused to consider this because it could split the Conservatives.
She is now toying with a general election as a way of ending the stalemate.
This would open up the Tories to a well deserved hammering – punished by Leave voters for making a mess of Brexit and by Remain voters for ignoring their concerns.
The Prime Minister has utterly failed to deliver what she promised – a deal that will determine our future for generations to come.