U.K. lawmakers move to stymie no-deal Brexit bid

LONDON — With Britain set to get a new pro-brexit leader within days, lawmakers on Thursday erected a roadblock for any attempt by the incoming prime minister to take the country out of the European Union without a divorce deal.

The move came as the U.K.’S official economic watchdog said a nodeal Brexit would trigger a recession.

Britain is due to leave the EU on Oct. 31, but Parliament has repeatedly rejected the divorce deal struck between Prime Minister Theresa

May and the bloc. Both men vying to take over from her as Britain’s prime minister, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, say they will leave without an agreement if the EU won’t renegotiate.

Most lawmakers oppose a no-deal Brexit. Johnson, the favorite to win the Conservative Party leadership race next week, has not ruled out suspending Parliament if it tries to block his plan to leave the EU on Oct. 31.

That got harder on Thursday, after the House of Commons approved a measure that effectively stops the government from sending lawmakers home in the weeks before the planned departure. Several government ministers — including Treasury chief Philip Hammond — abstained.

“We’re putting down a marker,” said Conservative lawmaker Alistair Burt, who co-sponsored the measure. “Parliament can’t be bypassed.”

Digital Minister Margot James resigned so she could vote against the government, saying it was “time for me to make a stand.”

The Office for Budget Responsibility, which provides the U.K. government with independent economic forecasts, said a no-deal Brexit would see “heightened uncertainty and declining confidence deter investment.”