BREXIT DISMAY
Government gets kick in teeth – all you need to know in just 12 crisp paragraphs
MPs gave Theresa May a huge slap in the face over Brexit last night – leaving an EU deal no nearer after eight days of debate in the Commons.
The PM will today face a vote of no confidence after being humiliated on her proposed agreement with Europe.
It was rejected by 432 to 202 – the biggest defeat for a Government in a meaningful division since World War One.
If Mrs May loses a confidence vote she will quit, forcing a general election.
Meanwhile Britain remains as far as ever from settling the Brexit issue, 936 days after the public voted to quit Europe.
Last night’s rebuff came moments after the PM made a last-ditch plea for MPs to back the Withdrawal Agreement she sealed with Brussels in November. Mrs May’s proposal was even voted against by 118 of her own Conservative MPs. But there was little doubt in Westminster she would survive the motion of no-confidence tabled by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
The Prime Minister now has until January 21 to set out a Plan B – which is expected to involve going back to Brussels to seek further concessions, with the clock ticking on the scheduled date of Brexit on March 29.
In a statement immediately after her drubbing, Mrs May said: “The House has spoken and this Government will listen.”
She offered cross-party talks with MPs to determine a way forward and said: “Every day that passes without this issue being resolved means more uncertainty, more bitterness and more rancour.”
Mr Corbyn said: “This is a catastrophic defeat for this Government.”
European Commission president JeanClaude Juncker said: “I urge the United Kingdom to clarify its intentions as soon as possible. Time is almost up.”
Pregnant Labour MP Tulip Siddiq, who postponed a caesarean in order to vote, attended the Commons in a wheelchair.