Theresa May’s Brexit deal has been defeated in the Commons in yet another political blow for the embattled Prime Minister.
With just two weeks to go until the scheduled Brexit date, MPs chose reject the proposed deal by a vote of 391-242.
Mrs May’s own Brexit-supporting Tory MPs came out against the draft Withdrawal Agreement hours ahead of the vote after they were told that the changes agreed in last-minute talks with the EU could not guarantee that the UK would not be trapped in the Irish backstop arrangement.
The result means that MPs are due to return to the Commons again on Wednesday to vote on whether to leave the EU with no deal at all.
If this is then rejected there would be a third vote the following day on the possibility of extending Article 50, thus delaying the 29 March Brexit date, in order to make more time for a plan to be formed.
ERG and DUP reject deal
The European Research Group (ERG) – a group of Tory MPs backing a hard Brexit – had said they would not support a deal that did not contain the legally-binding changes the Commons has demanded.
And the Democratic Unionist Party – which props up Mrs May’s minority government in the Commons – said it would also vote against the latest deal due to a lack of “sufficient progress”.
The vote came after Attorney General Geoffrey Cox said changes secured by Mrs May “reduce the risk” that the UK could be trapped indefinitely in the backstop, but do not remove it altogether.
New statements from the UK and EU outlined:
- a “legally binding joint instrument” relating to the Irish backstop which, it states, “reduces the risk the UK could be deliberately held in the Northern Ireland backstop indefinitely”
- a “unilateral declaration” by the UK setting out the UK’s plan to “provide assurance that the backstop would only be applied temporarily”
- the supplement to the framework for the future relationship outlining joint commitments to “expedite the negotiation and bringing into force of their future relationship”
The Prime Minister, battling through a diminishing and croaky voice, had urged the Commons to back the deal and warned that not doing so would mean “Brexit could be lost”.
“This is the moment and this is the time – time for us to come together, back this motion and get the deal done because only then can we get on with what we came here to do, what we were sent here to do.”
Last-minute concessions
Late on Monday night she had made a dash to Strasbourg to finalise a deal with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker which she hoped would reassure MPs that the backstop, designed to avoid a hard border in Ireland after Brexit, would not become permanent.
But the changes failed to win over enough MPs for the deal to be passed.
The first “meaningful vote” was held back in January and the deal was voted down by a huge 230 majority – the biggest Government defeat in modern history.
