SUCCESSION OF VOTES:

MPS COULD face a succession of votes on the Prime Minister’s Brexit plan and more motions of no confidence in the run-up to the UK’s divorce from the European Union as pressure mounts to avoid a no-deal departure.

Theresa May told the House of Commons last night that her strategy was not to “run down the clock” to March 29, when the UK is due to leave the EU.

Speaking immediately after the scale of the defeat became clear, she said: “I have always believed that the best way forward is to leave in an orderly way with a good deal and have devoted much of the last two years to negotiating such a deal.”

And senior Ministers suggested she would bring back her deal to the Commons in the coming days, with Scottish Secretary David Mundell describing last night’s defeat as “an initial vote” and saying MPs could have repeated votes on the deal.

Attorney General Geoffrey Cox appeared to indicate that the PM will resist pressure to tear up her plan or to seek cross-party consensus on a new approach.

He told MPs that in the event of a government defeat, the agreement would have to return to the Commons later “in much the same form with much the same content”.

The Yorkshire Post understands that the Government’s desire for MPs to approve its deal could see them coming back to the Commons and putting the same plan on the table – with the possible addition of some minor concessions from Brussels – until they get the answer they want.

Labour, which plans to use the chaos to force a General Election, could keep triggering no con-

fidence votes in the hope that some Tory MPs could eventually defect in a desperate bid to avoid a no-deal Brexit. Restless MPs could break the deadlock, however, through amendments that would force the House to considers plans tabled by backbenchers ahead of government business.

The most prominent of these freelance proposals is being spearheaded by Tory MP Nick Boles, who could give his colleagues the chance to choose a soft Brexit after all.

The European Commission’s President Jean-Claude Juncker voiced “regret” at the defeat of what he termed “the best possible deal”, adding: “The risk of a disorderly withdrawal of the United Kingdom has increased with this evening’s vote. While we do not want this to happen, the European Commission will continue its contingency work to help ensure the EU is fully prepared.”