British MPs have defeated Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal, with 433 voting against and 202 voting for. Over 100 Conservative MPs helped vote down the deal in an historical defeat.
The result of Tuesday evening's vote has led to a sharp increased in the political chaos that has characterised British politics in the past two years.
Opposition leader, Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn, immediately called a vote of no confidence in Theresa May’s Conservative government. This will be held on Wednesday.
“After two years of failed negotiations, the House of Commons has delivered its verdict on her Brexit deal, and that verdict is absolutely decisive,” said Corbyn. “Her governing principle of delay and denial has reached the end of the line.”
March 29th is still officially Brexit day but parliament has created a crisis in which Brexit is not a certainty, a new referendum is not a certainty and the continuation of the May government is not likely.
“It is clear that the House does not support this deal, but tonight’s vote tells us nothing about what it does support,” May commented after the vote.
Reuters commented, “The humiliating loss, the first British parliamentary defeat of a treaty since 1864, marks the collapse of May’s two-year strategy of forging an amicable divorce with close ties to the EU after the March 29 exit."
“The withdrawal agreement is now dead,” said David Jones, a Conservative brexiteer and former minister. “The EU will see that it must now offer better terms to the UK. If it does not, we must leave to trade on WTO terms.”
EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that tonight’s vote in Westminster meant that preparations would intensify for a no-deal Brexit.
“The risk of a disorderly withdrawal of the United Kingdom has increased with this evening’s vote,” said Juncker.
Many ‘remainers’ hope that tonight’s government defeat will lead to a second referendum but pro-Brexit supporters say that ignoring the will of a majority of UK voters could lead to even darker social divisions and civil upset.