UK premier hurdles confidence vote
United Kingdom still deeply divided on how to exit from European Union
LONDON— British Prime Minister Theresa May remained in office after surviving a confidence vote on Wednesday. May won a narrow victory, 325 to 306, reflecting her precarious hold after Parliament, including members of her own Conservative Party, rejected her original Brexit deal, 432-202. But there is still no clarity on Britain’s exit from the European Union, which has deeply divided the United Kingdom.—
LONDON— British Prime Minister Theresa May remained in office after surviving a confidence vote in Parliament on Wednesday, but there was still no clarity on Britain’s exit from the European Union, which has deeply divided the United Kingdom.
May won a narrow victory, 325 to 306, reflecting her precarious hold after Parliament, including members of her own Conservative party, rejected her original Brexit deal, 432-202.
No snap general election
That vote on Tuesday, Downing Street’s worst defeat in Westminster Palace in 95 years, spurred opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn to seek a vote of confidence.
Had the government lost, Britain would have faced a snap election within weeks, just before the country is due to leave the European Union on March 29.
The government survived Wednesday’s vote with support from May’s Conservative Party and its Northern Irish ally, the Democratic Unionist Party.
Many pro-Brexit Conservatives who voted against May’s deal, backed her in the confidence vote to avoid an election that could bring Corbyn and the Labour Party to power.
May said an election “would deepen division when we need unity, it would bring chaos when we need certainty, and it would bring delay when we need to move forward.”
Now it’s back to Brexit, where May is caught between the rock of her own negotiating red lines and the hard place of a Parliament that wants to force a radical change of course.
May later said she would hold talks with the opposition, but she also insisted on elements of her rejected Brexit plan.
Doubtful starter
May’s Brexit plan included an end to the free movement of workers to Britain from the EU and leaving the EU’s single market and customs union, but many lawmakers said a softer departure would gain more support from Parliament.
Labour lawmaker Ben Bradshaw said May was “in a total state of denial” about how her Brexit plan needed to change.
Green party legislator Caroline Lucas said May’s intransigence had led to the crisis.
“This is a national calamity of the prime minister’s own making,” Lucas said. “Today has to be the day when we start to change the conversation about Brexit.”