May humbled in historic loss
■ Nature of withdrawal from EU now in doubt ■ PM faces no confidence vote in the Commons
THE FUTURE of Prime Minister Theresa May’s Government and the nature of the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union were thrown into doubt last night as MPs rejected her Brexit plans in the worst defeat the House of Commons has ever witnessed.
The historic defeat of 432 votes to 202 was delivered moments after Mrs May made a last-ditch appeal for MPs to back the Withdrawal Agreement which she sealed with Brussels in November after almost two years of negotiation.
And she today faces a no-confidence vote in her Government after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn finally carried out his long-held promise to table a motion calling for the measure, which could force an early General Election.
The 230-vote margin of defeat was by far the worst suffered by any government in a meaningful division since at least the First World War and in normal circumstances would be enough to force a Prime Minister from office. Three-quarters of Yorkshire MPs voted against Mrs May, with just 12 supporting her Brexit plan and six Conservative rebels including former Brexit Secretary David Davis and York Outer MP Julian Sturdy.
But Mrs May made clear she intends to stay on, setting out plans for talks with senior parliamentarians from parties across the Commons in the hope of finding “genuinely negotiable” solutions which she can take to Brussels.
In a statement to the Commons immediately after her drubbing, the Prime Minister told MPs: “The House has spoken and this Government will listen. It is clear that this House does not support this deal, but tonight’s vote tells us nothing about what it does support.”
She said she would consult with Conservative colleagues, her Democratic Unionist Party allies and senior parliamentarians from across the Commons to identify “what now is required to secure the backing of the House”.
The PM promised to approach the talks “in a constructive spirit”, but cautioned that proposals would have to be “genuinely negotiable and have sufficient support in this House” if she was to take them back to Brussels to “explore” with the EU.
Mrs May assured MPs that she was not seeking to run the clock down to a no-deal Brexit in March, insisting she still hoped to take the UK out of the EU “in an orderly way, with a good deal”.
And in a message to MPs she said: “Every day that passes without this issue being resolved means more uncertainty, more bitterness and more rancour.
“The Government has heard what the House has said tonight, but I ask members on all sides of the House to listen to the British people who want this issue settled and to work with the Government to do just that.”
Mr Corbyn said: “I hear the words of the Prime Minister, but the actions of her Government in these past two years speak equally clearly. She is only attempting to reach out now to try to keep her failed deal alive after it has been so roundly rejected by Parliament on behalf of the people of this country... She cannot seriously believe that after two years of failure, she is capable of negotiating a good deal for the people of this country.
“On the most important issue facing us, this Government has lost the confidence of this House and this country.”
He added that the “catastrophic” defeat represented an “absolutely decisive” verdict by MPs on Mrs May’s handling of Brexit.
But the Labour leader’s hopes of ousting the PM were undermined when the DUP’s Sammy Wilson said that the Unionist party will back Mrs May in her fight for survival.
He said: “We never wanted a change of government, we want a change of policy.”
And a spokesman for the European Research Group of eurosceptic Tories, chaired by Jacob Rees-Mogg, confirmed that they too would back the Government today.
Mrs May – who said she expected to survive today’s vote – has until January 21 to set out a Plan B, with the clock ticking on the scheduled date of Brexit in just 73 days’ time on March 29.