May survives confidence vote, but she’s still beset by Brexit
Prime Minister Theresa May narrowly survived a vote of no-confidence in Parliament on Wednesday, but the result did little to quell the turmoil gripping the British government over her plan for leaving the European Union, coming a day after she suffered a historic defeat on the blueprint.
The House of Commons voted 325-306 to reject an opposition motion of no confidence. If successful, it almost certainly would have ousted her from power and probably would have forced a general election, adding still more layers of uncertainty in a country fast approaching the March 29 date for leaving the bloc – yet unable to agree on how to do so.
On Tuesday, Parliament dealt May a crushing defeat, voting 432-202 to reject her painstakingly negotiated agreement with Brussels for leaving the European Union, or Brexit – by far the biggest losing margin for a government on a major issue in modern times.
Yet, a day later, more than 100 lawmakers from May’s own Conservative Party who had opposed her Brexit bill voted to support her government, as did legislators from the Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland who also hate May’s plan.
The head-snapping sequence of events leaves May – the leader of an intractably divided party, with a split Cabinet, no parliamentary majority and no clear path forward on Brexit – more politically wounded than ever, yet somehow still standing.
Ordinarily, a prime minister would be expected to resign after suffering a big defeat on a signature bill, but Brexit has rewritten the rules of British politics. And once again, May, who has defied many predictions of her political demise, lived to fight another day.
Her ability to soak up political punishment and survive is an acute frustration to Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party, who began the no-confidence motion by reminding lawmakers that Tuesday’s vote was “the largest defeat in the history of our democracy,” adding that May was leading a “zombie government.”
Ian Blackford, the leader of the Scottish National Party’s lawmakers at Westminster, accused the prime minister of presiding over a “political collapse,” adding that, in its pursuit of Brexit, the country was “on a path to self-destruction.”
But with the no-confidence motion having failed, attention will turn rapidly to whether May has a credible Plan B for Brexit. After surviving the vote, May said she would invite opposition party leaders to talks about Brexit. Corbyn called for her to first rule out the option of leaving the European Union without any agreement.
Earlier, the prime minister had vowed to somehow forge a deal that could win passage, yet when pressed, she declined repeatedly to offer any specifics about what might change.
Nonetheless, there is growing speculation that she could seek a postponement of the March 29 Brexit deadline.