Theresa May will face a vote of no confidence today after sustaining the heaviest parliamentary defeat of any British prime minister in the democratic era, with MPs rejecting her Brexit deal by a resounding majority of 230. The prime minister is to begin urgent cross-party talks about a new approach but has not said what this might involve. Jeremy Corbyn will table his no-confidence motion in the government, due to be voted on this evening. The backing of both the DUP and Tory MPs means May is almost certain to win and, unable to secure a general election,
Corbyn will face intense pressure to commit Labour to supporting a second referendum. The Tory MP Dominic Grieve will present two bills to the House seeking a people’s vote...
Both Brexiters and pro-Europeans are treating the vote as a victory but there is no consensus about its impact. Campaigners for a second referendum are thrilled because they believe it is now more likely. But as May put it: “It is clear that the house does not support this deal, but tonight’s vote tells us nothing about what it does support.” In her statement to MPs after the result, May implied that she was leaning towards a Norway-style soft Brexit by saying she wanted “constructive” talks with Labour MPs. But she also said any proposals must be “genuinely negotiable” and she was committed to delivering on the result of the referendum. Her cabinet is deeply divided on the idea of a softer Brexit, and her party split between dealers and no-dealers...
After May’s defeat,
Donald Tusk, the European council president, effectively called for the UK to stay in the EU, saying that a departure deal looked “impossible”. The European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, urged the British government to “clarify its intentions as soon as possible”. In France, President Emmanuel Macron said “maybe we [the EU] will make improvements on one or two things but I don’t really think so”. Michael Roth, Germany’s EU affairs minister, tweeted: “Disaster. Too bad. But EU’s door remains open.” The office of the Irish taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, warned that a “disorderly Brexit is a bad outcome for everyone, not least in Northern Ireland. It is not too late to avoid this outcome and we call on the UK to set out how it proposes to resolve this impasse as a matter of urgency.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/16/wednesday-briefing-brexit-deal-gets-worst-vote-ever
= new reply since forum marked as read
