Brexit deal rejected for third time

Brexit becomes Whatnexit as EU plans crisis talks

LONDON • Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal was beaten down for an amazing, unprecedented, pitiful third time by the British parliament on Friday, with all bets off now on when or how the United Kingdom will leave the European Union.

The EU had given Britain until the end of this week to approve the withdrawal agreement. Now Britain has until April 12 to propose a new way forward, or crash out of the bloc without a deal, or beg for a long extension.

May called the results of the day’s votes “grave.”

The leader of the opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, called for a general election.

Within minutes of the vote, EU leaders scrambled to convene “crisis” talks on April 10 in Brussels. The Europeans grow more anxious by the day that Britain’s Conservative Party is going to wreck economic havoc on both sides of the English Channel.

Speaking after the vote, May observed the obvious: “Once again, we have been unable to support leaving the European Union in an orderly fashion.” May said, “I fear we are reaching the limits of this process in this House. This House has rejected no deal, it has rejected no Brexit, on Wednesday it rejected all the variations of the deal on the table and today it has rejected approving the withdrawal agreement alone.”

The prime minister’s stripped-down version of her twice-defeated Brexit deal lost by a thumping 58 votes — 344 to 286 — in yet another “last ditch” and “cliff edge” attempt to exit from the European Union.