British Prime Minister Theresa May has addressed the United Kingdom — again — after hosting an epic seven hours of government meetings Tuesday and told the nation she intends to delay Brexit again to get her deal agreed by Parliament, or else open the door for a softer Brexit.

The podium moment at 10 Downing Street — merely the latest in a line of addresses direct to the nation by the Prime Minister — came the evening after the second failed attempt by Parliament to seize control of the Brexit process from the government. Rather than indicating what direction they intended to take, Parliament instead voted against every option but before them for a second time.

The Prime Minister chaired two cabinet meetings for over seven hours today in search of a way through the so-called “logjam”, and it was speculated by members of the Westminster bubble that the outcome could lead to a deviation from the plan. This could have meant a softening of Brexit to appease the overwhelmingly pro-Remain Parliament, or accepting a no-deal Brexit next week just to get it over and done with.

As it was, the result seems to have been exactly what the Prime Minister has been doing since day one — more of the same. Inviting the leader of the opposition to talks which she made clear would have to end up with him coming to accept her Brexit ‘deal’, May said she was going to be delaying Brexit yet again to give herself more time to get the deal agreed.

Crucially, the Prime Minister said if there was no agreement she would allow Parliament to vote on what option they want, which the government would then “stand by”. Given the overwhelmingly pro-Remain character of the House of Commons — much in contrast to the wider country which voted for Britain to leave the European Union in 2016 — this would almost certainly mean a much softer Brexit than even the ‘deal’ the Prime Minister was given by the EU.

Listening live to Prime Minister May’s speech, Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage told LBC listeners, “That was the prime minister basically saying that we need national unity to deliver the national interest.

“We need leadership and my view is what we got from that statement was yet more fudge.”

“That statement from the prime minister takes us no farther further whatsoever and maybe takes us even deeper into crisis because it’s all dependant upon her withdrawal treaty and amended political declaration passing and it may have taken us no further forward at all,” he said.

UPDATE 1910 — Will it be enough?

May handing over power to Corbyn and the Commons is not enough to please arch Europhiles like Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable who used the crisis to call for another referendum. He said:

The British people voted to leave the European Union in June 2016, and as pointed out by Brexiteers, the country could have left then, or very shortly afterwards. However, the Brexit can — so loathed by the British political establishment as it was — has been kicked down the road endlessly since. How has this happened?
• Then British Prime Minister David Cameron who gave the country the EU membership referendum in an attempt to shut down the debate over Europe for another generation was so horrified at having accidentally lost, despite spending millions of pounds on sending a government booklet to every home in the country on why voters should do as they were told, immediately resigns office. This effectively leaves the country without a leader, and hence unable to leave the European Union.
• Theresa May becomes Prime Minister in July 2016 but waits until March 2017 to actually trigger the Brexit process known as Article 50.
• This creates a two year negotiation period until the technical Brexit day on March 29th 2019, followed by a long period of indeterminate length where actual Brexit — the so-called ‘future relationship’ — is negotiated. Even if this period had gone to plan, the United Kingdom wouldn’t have been free from the European Union until the early 2020s, in all probability.
• The March 29th date, even after two years of negotiations, was still too soon for Theresa May, however, so it was delayed until April 12th 2019. This was to give the government just a little more time to do what it had failed to do in the preceding two years.
• Now the Prime Minister wants to delay again, claiming she’d go for a delay “that is as short as possible”. It is not clear whether this will be possible, however, as the European Union itself has to permit any delay and has already said that any more time now would have to be in the years, not months.
• What does all this mean? Key Brexiteer Nigel Farage already warned that one delay to the legal Brexit date would lead to it being delayed again and again — he has now been proven right by the Prime Minister. He has also said that any attempt to delay Brexit is merely cancelling Brexit in disguise. Will he be proven correct there, as well?

The politicos are, of course, ready with instant reaction. One of the first out of the blocks was Nick Boles, the former Conservative who walked away from the party yesterday evening because Theresa May wasn’t killing Brexit fast enough. The fact he’s welcoming May’s comments tonight probably tells Brexiteers all they need to know about the dangerous new direction May is taking the country — away from the democratically expressed will of the British people:

Brexiteer Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns has called the announcement a “Further national frustration while the PM kicks the Brexit can down the road,” criticising the prime minister for working “closely with the opposition” which wants a softer Brexit and a second referendum.

Brexit campaign group Leave Means Leave warns that May’s plans will lead to a “Brexit betrayal,” writing, “The government and both parties promised to leave the EU, the Single Market, and the Customs Union. All of the options being presented, including the PM’s Withdrawal Agreement, lead to this commitment being overturned and a Brexit betrayal.”

I have just come from chairing seven hours of cabinet meetings focussed on finding a route out of the current impasse. One that will deliver the Brexit the British people voted for, and allow us to move on and begin bringing our divided country back together. I know there are some who are so fed up with delay and endless arguments that they would like to leave with no deal next week. I’ve always been clear that we could make a success of no deal in the long term, but leaving with a deal is the best solution. So we will need a further extension of article 50, one that is as short as possible, and one that will end when we pass a deal. And we need to be clear about what such an extension is for, to ensure we leave in a timely and orderly way. This debate, this division cannot drag on much longer. It is putting members of parliament and everyone else under enormous pressure, and it is doing damage to our politics. Despite the best efforts of MPs, the process that the House of Commons has tried to lead has not come up with an answer. So today I am taking action to break the logjam. I am offering to sit down with the leader of the opposition and to try to agree a plan that we would both stick to, to ensure we leave the European Union and we do so with a deal. Any plan would have to agree the current withdrawal agreement. It has already been negotiated with the 27 other members, and the EU has repeatedly said that it cannot and will not be reopened. What we need to focus on is out future relationship with the EU. The ideal outcome of this process would be to agree an approach on a future relationship which delivers on the result of the referendum, that both the leader of the opposition and I could put to the House for approval, and that I could then take to next week’s European Council. However, if we cannot agree on a single unified approach, then we would instead agree to a number of options for the future relationship which we could pout to the house in a series of votes to determine which course to pursue. Crucially, the government stands ready to stand by the decision of the house. But to make this process work, the opposition would need to agree to this too. The government would then bring forth the withdrawal agreement bill. We would want to agree a timetable for this bill to ensure it is passed before the 27th of May, so that the United Kingdom need not take part in European Parliamentary elections. This is a difficult time for everyone, passions are running high on all sides of the argument. But we can and must find the compromises that will deliver what the British people voted for. This is a decisive moment in the story of these Islands. And it requires national unity to deliver the national interest. </s> • Prime Minister Theresa May has suffered another Brexit defeat after the House of Commons on Thursday rejected a motion seeking endorsement for her Brexit plans.
• MPs voted 303 to 258 to reject the government’s motion after dozens of pro-Brexit MPs abstained.
• Some Brexit advocates argued that the motion would have effectively ruled out a no-deal Brexit.
• May had asked MPs to send a “clear message” to the European Union.
• It is the eighth time the government has lost a House of Commons vote on Brexit.

LONDON – Prime Minister Theresa May has suffered another Brexit defeat in the House of Commons after rebel Conservative MPs abandoned their support for her plans to break from the European Union.

The prime minister had asked MPs to send a “clear message” to the EU about their desire for “legally binding changes” to her Brexit deal, with the UK’s scheduled exit just weeks away.

But in another day of Westminster drama, MPs voted 303 to 258 on Thursday evening to reject the prime minister’s motion seeking endorsement for her plan to renegotiate the controversial backstop for Northern Ireland.

A majority of Conservative MPs in the pro-Brexit European Research Group abstained from the vote, which is what led May’s government to its eighth Brexit defeat in the House of Commons.

The prime minister’s opponents called on her to change course.

“Tonight’s vote shows there is no majority for the prime minister’s course of action on Brexit,” the Labour Party’s leader, Jeremy Corbyn, told MPs immediately following the vote.

“Yet again she has been defeated. The government cannot keep on ignoring parliament.”

David Lammy, a Labour MP who supports the anti-Brexit Best For Britain campaign, described the result as a “massacre for the government and a damning indictment of the Prime Minister’s Brexit plan.”

He added: “The Prime Minister has nowhere left to hide.

“Her threats to throw the country off a cliff edge if MPs do not vote for her deal will be exposed as deeply cynical by a leader more concerned with the future of her party than her country. She should now rule out no-deal and put her deal to a public vote with the option of remaining in the EU.”

Thursday’s vote wasn’t legally binding, but it had symbolic weight and puts even greater pressure on May to change her Brexit strategy.

The vote was originally expected to be a straightforward victory for the government as it sought a repeated endorsement for a motion previously passed by MPs two weeks ago.

But pro-Brexit MPs in the European Research Group abstained on the prime minister’s motion, as they believed it also endorsed a previous amendment that called on the government to rule out a no-deal Brexit.

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay had insisted in the Commons that a no-deal Brexit was still possible. Conservative rebels accused the government of “doublethink,” however, after ministers refused to rewrite their motion.

“We’re now truly entering the world of George Orwell’s Ministry of Truth,” Conservative MP Bill Cash told the Commons.

“In his book 1984, Orwell said doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously and expecting both of them. This double motion is doublethink in action and I cannot possibly vote for it.”

Pro-Brexit MPs were split on whether to back the prime minister, with some members of the anti-EU European Research Group breaking to back May’s motion.

The result means the prime minister will return to Brussels later this month without the clear support from Parliament for a renegotiated deal.

It will also add to growing pressure on May to shift toward backing a customs union with the EU to win support from Labour and other opposition parties. </s> British prime minister Theresa May has been defeated over her Brexit plan B on Thursday.

Asked to “reiterate its support for the approach to leaving the EU” expressed by the House of Commons on January 29th, it voted 303 against the motion, tabled by the government.

The prime minister was not present for the vote.

She had been seeking MPs’ backing for her approach to renegotiating her withdrawal agreement with the EU after the House of Commons emphatically rejected it last month.

Although Mrs May is seeking to finalise a revised Brexit deal with the EU, she has repeatedly refused to rule out the possibility of the UK crashing out of the bloc without an agreement.

But Eurosceptic Conservative MPs are angry that a government motion about Mrs May’s strategy that they are being asked to approve on Thursday “welcomes” recent votes in parliament, including one rejecting a no-deal Brexit.

Many Eurosceptics argue that a no-deal option is necessary as a negotiating tactic with Brussels.

“It makes sense that we keep no deal on the table, because we know the history of the EU that they do make concessions at the last moment,” said Shailesh Vara, who resigned as a minister in protest at Brexit policy. “We need to hold our nerve.”

Some members of the pro-Brexit European Research Group of Tory MPs, led by Jacob Rees-Mogg, are now expected to abstain in the vote on Thursday, which could result in the government motion being rejected, and thereby undermine Mrs May’s credibility with Brussels.

Adding to the prime minister’s difficulties, Europhile Conservative MPs criticised Brexit secretary Steve Barclay after he said that the UK could leave the EU without a deal on March 29 despite parliament having voted against such a possibility.

Caroline Spelman, the Conservative MP who spearheaded the Commons vote last month against leaving without a deal, suggested that the government was “contemptuous” of the Commons.

MPs were asked to vote up to four times on Thursday. Three amendments to the government motion have been selected for debate: one by Labour, which seeks to force the government to give MPs a further vote on Mrs May’s strategy on February 27th; another by the Scottish National party, calling for steps to revoke Brexit; and a third by Europhile MPs, ordering the release of the government’s no-deal assessments.

This third amendment, led by the Conservative Anna Soubry and Labour’s Chuka Umunna, was later withdrawn.

Mr Barclay tried to assuage Eurosceptic Tories in his speech at the start of the Commons debate on Thursday. “We do need as a parliament to hold our nerve, and we do need to send a clear signal to those in the European Union with whom we’re discussing this deal,” he said.

Shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer said Mr Barclay was “all over the place on all of the important issues”, and accused Mrs May of “running down the clock, hoping to get to March or even the end of March” before presenting MPs with a choice of her withdrawal agreement or a no-deal Brexit. – Financial Times </s> LONDON — Prime Minister Theresa May formally asked the European Union on Wednesday to postpone Britain’s departure from the bloc — due in nine days — until June 30. But a frustrated EU has warned it could keep Britain waiting for an answer.

In a letter to European Council President Donald Tusk, May said the Brexit process “clearly will not be completed before 29 March, 2019” — the date fixed in law two years ago for Britain’s departure.

She asked for a delay until June 30, and said she wanted to set out her reasons to EU leaders at a summit in Brussels on Thursday.

Opposition politicians, and pro-EU members of May’s Conservative government, had urged a longer extension, saying a delay of just a few months could leave Britain once again facing a cliff-edge “no-deal” Brexit this summer. Withdrawing without a deal could mean huge disruption for businesses and people in the U.K. and the 27 remaining EU countries.

But a long extension would infuriate the pro-Brexit wing of May’s divided party, and would require Britain to participate in May 23-26 elections for the European Parliament.

May said that would be unacceptable.

“As prime minister I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than June 30,” she said in the House of Commons.

May said a longer delay would result in Parliament spending “endless hours contemplating its navel on Brexit.”

Britain voted in June 2016 to quit the EU, but almost three years later, its politicians are deadlocked over how — and even whether — to leave.

“Today marks 1,000 days since the referendum and this government has led the country and themselves into crisis, chaos and division,” said opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

British lawmakers have twice rejected the Brexit deal May has struck with the bloc. Her troubles deepened when the speaker of the House of Commons ruled earlier this week that she can’t ask Parliament to vote on the deal again unless it is substantially changed. That scuttled May’s plan to try a third time this week to get the agreement approved.

May told Tusk that despite the ruling “it remains my intention to bring the deal back to the House.”

If it is approved, she plans to use the extension until June 30 in order for Parliament to pass the necessary legislation for Britain’s departure.

A delay to Britain’s withdrawal requires the approval of all 27 remaining EU countries — and that’s not guaranteed. Any delay that required Britain to take part in European parliamentary elections would be a major headache for the bloc, and some EU leaders want a short extension to end by May 23, when voting begins.

The head of the bloc’s executive branch said EU leaders are unlikely to agree to a delay at a summit this week.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said if May wanted a delay, “she must bring approval of the negotiated deal and she must bring clear ideas on timing.”

“My impression is … that this week at the European Council there will be no decision, but that we will probably have to meet again next week, because Mrs. May doesn’t have agreement to anything, either in her Cabinet or in Parliament,” Juncker told Germany’s Deutschlandfunk radio.

“As long as we don’t know what Britain could say yes to, we can’t reach a decision.”

Britain’s political chaos has drawn reactions ranging from sympathy to scorn at home and around the world. On its front page Wednesday, the Brexit-backing Daily Mail newspaper bemoaned the time since the referendum as”1,000 lost days.”

From Washington, Donald Trump Jr. said May should have listened to his father, who urged her last year to sue the EU in order to secure better departure terms. The U.S. president has criticized May for not taking his advice.

The president’s multimillionaire son blamed “elites” in London and Brussels for scuttling Brexit. Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Trump Jr. said “democracy in the U.K. is all but dead.”

The gridlock is also causing increasing exasperation among EU leaders.

Juncker said that “in all probability” Britain won’t leave on March 29, but he underlined the EU’s insistence that it will not reopen the painstakingly negotiated withdrawal agreement that British lawmakers have snubbed.

“There will be no renegotiations, no new negotiations and no additional assurances on top of the additional assurances we have already given,” he said.

Juncker said Britain’s Parliament needed to decide whether it would approve the deal that is on the table.

“If that doesn’t happen, and if Great Britain does not leave at the end of March, then we are, I am sorry to say, in the hands of God,” he said. “And I think even God sometimes reaches a limit to his patience.”

Geir Moulson in Berlin and Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this story. </s> LONDON — In a shock announcement, Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday called for an early general election to be held June 8 to seek a strong mandate as she negotiates Britain's exit from the European Union.

Standing outside 10 Downing Street, May said she would ask the House of Commons on Wednesday to back her call for an election, just two years after the last vote and three years before the next scheduled date in May 2020.

She said that since Britons voted to leave the EU in June, the country had come together, but politicians had not. She said the political divisions "risk our ability to make a success of Brexit."

At present, May's governing Conservatives have a small majority, with 330 seats in the 650-seat House of Commons.

With the main opposition Labour Party weakened and divided under left-wing leader Jeremy Corbyn and the pro-EU Liberal Democrats holding just nine Commons seats, May is calculating that the election will bring her an expanded crop of Conservative lawmakers.

That would make it easier for her to ignore opposition calls for a softer EU exit — making compromises to retain some benefits of membership — and to face down hardliners within her own party who want a no-compromise "hard Brexit" that many economists fear could be devastating.

May triggered a two-year countdown to Britain's exit from the EU last month, and high-stakes negotiations to settle divorce terms and agree on a new relationship are expected to start within weeks.

European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted that he had a "good phone call" with May about the election, and the council said the bloc's Brexit plans were unchanged by the announcement. Leaders of EU states are due to adopt negotiating guidelines at an April 29 summit, and the bloc will prepare detailed plans for the talks with Britain by late May.

May took office in July following an internal Conservative leadership contest, after predecessor David Cameron stepped down when voters rejected his call to remain in the EU. Since then she had repeatedly ruled out calling an early election to get her own mandate.

But May said Tuesday she had "reluctantly" changed her mind.

"We need a general election and we need one now," she said.

May said that if there is not an election soon, "the negotiations with the European Union will reach their most difficult stage in the run-up to the next scheduled election."

"Division in Westminster will risk our ability to make a success of Brexit and it will cause damaging uncertainty and instability to the country," she said.

May said that "our opponents believe that because the government's majority is so small, our resolve will weaken and that they can force us to change course" on leaving the EU.

"They are wrong," she said. "They underestimate our determination to get the job done and I am not prepared to let them endanger the security of millions of working people across the country."

Under Britain's Fixed-Term Parliaments Act, elections are held every five years, but the prime minister can call a snap election if two-thirds of lawmakers vote for it.

That is highly likely to happen on Wednesday. Labour Party leader Corbyn said he welcomed May's decision "to give the British people the chance to vote for a government that will put the interests of the majority first."

Labour campaigned for Britain to remain in the EU, but Corbyn says he will respect voters' decision to leave. He said Labour would fight the election promising a fairer society and economy, and "a Brexit that works for all."

Polls give May's Conservatives a double-digit lead on Labour. But the election is still a risk for May, and could widen divisions within the United Kingdom. The country voted 52-48 percent to leave the EU, but Scotland backed remaining by a large majority, and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is seeking to hold a referendum on independence from the U.K.

Sturgeon said Tuesday that May was seeking "to crush the voices of people who disagree with her."

She said it was "all the more important that Scotland is protected from a Tory (Conservative) Party which now sees the chance of grabbing control of government for many years to come and moving the U.K. further to the right - forcing through a hard Brexit and imposing deeper cuts in the process."

The Scottish National Party currently holds 54 of Scotland's 59 seats in the British Parliament, making it the third-largest party there.

The pound surged 0.7 percent against the dollar to $1.2658 after May's announcement, recovering from a 0.4 percent drop an hour earlier as rumors swirled about the surprise statement. </s> Image copyright UKParliament/Mark Duffy

MPs have voted by 413 to 202 - a majority of 211 - for Prime Minister Theresa May to ask the EU for a delay to Brexit.

It means the UK may not now leave on 29 March as previously planned.

Mrs May says Brexit could be delayed by three months, to 30 June, if MPs back her deal in a vote next week.

If they reject her deal again then she says she will seek a longer extension - but any delay has to be agreed by the 27 other EU member states.

Most Conservative MPs voted against delaying Brexit - including seven cabinet members - meaning Mrs May had to rely on Labour and other opposition votes to get it through.

But some Labour frontbenchers resigned to defy party orders to abstain on a vote on holding another referendum.

Shadow housing minister Yvonne Fovargue, shadow education minister Emma Lewell-Buck, shadow business minister Justin Madders, Ruth Smeeth, a shadow ministerial aide, and Labour whip Stephanie Peacock, all quit their roles to oppose one.

Theresa May, who has long insisted that the UK will leave the EU on 29 March with or without a withdrawal deal, voted to delay Brexit.

She had been forced to offer MPs a vote on delaying Brexit after they rejected her withdrawal agreement by a large margin, for a second time, and then voted to reject a no-deal Brexit.

She has warned that extending the departure date beyond three months could harm trust in democracy - and mean that the UK would have to take part in May's European Parliament elections.

Please upgrade your browser to view this interactive How did my MP vote on 14 March? Enter a postcode, or the name or constituency of your MP Seat vacant

Downing Street said the government was still preparing for a no-deal Brexit.

Theresa May is planning to hold another "meaningful vote" on her withdrawal deal by Wednesday - after it was overwhelmingly rejected on two previous occasions.

If she wins that vote, she will ask for a one-off extension to Brexit get the necessary legislation through Parliament at an EU summit on Thursday - if not she could ask for a longer extension.

A spokesman for the European Commission said extending Article 50, the mechanism taking the UK out of the EU on 29 March, would need the "unanimous agreement" of all EU member states.

And it would be for the leaders of those states "to consider such a request, giving priority to the need to ensure the functioning of the EU institutions and taking into account the reasons for and duration of a possible extension".

It is still technically possible that we could leave the EU at the end of this month - the law has not changed.

But politically it is now almost entirely out of reach.

The prime minister is accepting she will miss one of the biggest targets she has ever set herself.

Tonight's vote is awkward for another reason, as it again displays the Conservatives' fundamental divisions.

This is more than a quarrel among friends, but a party that is split down the middle on one of the most vital questions this administration has posed, with cabinet ministers, as well as backbench Brexiteers, lining up to disagree with Theresa May.

Read more from Laura

Downing Street said this was a "natural consequence" of Mrs May's decision to offer a free vote on an issue where there are "strong views on all sides of the debate".

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss tweeted: "I voted against a delay to Brexit. As a delay was passed by Parliament, I want to see deal agreed ASAP so we can minimise to short, technical, extension."

Seven cabinet ministers - Ms Truss, Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt, Commons leader Andrea Leadsom, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling and Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson - voted against the government motion.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Health Secretary Matthew Hancock said "it is still possible to deliver Brexit on the 29 March"

Health Secretary Matthew Hancock said it would be "extremely difficult" but "still possible to deliver Brexit on 29 March with a deal".

He said there were now two options: "To vote for the deal and leave in orderly way or a long delay and I think that would be a disaster."

MPs earlier rejected an attempt to secure another Brexit referendum by 334 votes to 85.

And they also rejected a cross-party plan to allow MPs to take control of the Brexit process to hold a series of votes on the next steps, by the narrow margin of two votes.

Following the votes, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn reiterated his support for a further referendum after earlier ordering his MPs not to vote for one.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Jeremy Corbyn: Public vote an "option to break deadlock"

He said: "Today I reiterate my conviction that a deal can be agreed based on our alternative plan that can command support across the House.

"I also reiterate our support for a People's Vote - not as a political point-scoring exercise but as a realistic option to break the deadlock."

Labour abstained when MPs voted on the referendum proposal, tabled by Independent Group MP Sarah Wollaston, arguing that now was not the right time to push for a public vote.

But 17 Labour MPs defied party orders and voted to oppose another referendum - while 24 Labour MPs rebelled to vote in favour of one.

Among frontbenchers to quit over the issue, Ms Peacock said: "It is with deep regret I tonight resigned from Labour's front bench, because I believe we should respect the result of the 2016 vote to leave the European Union."

Labour's plan to delay Brexit to allow Parliamentary time for MPs to "find a majority for a different approach" was defeated by 318 to 302 votes. </s> LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday that any changes to the divorce deal with the European Union would be put before parliament ahead of any vote on a Brexit agreement.

“We are in discussions with the EU about changes ... in relation to the backstop for Northern Ireland,” May told parliament. “Any changes that are agreed with the European Union would be put before this House (of Commons, lower house of parliament) before the meaningful vote.” </s> MPs have again rejected a series of alternatives to Theresa May’s Brexit deal.

A call for a customs union after Brexit was defeated by just three votes, a referendum on any deal was rejected by 12 votes, the Common Market 2.0 plan lost by 21 votes and cancelling Brexit to prevent a no-deal scenario was defeated by 101.

So what happens next?

– Tuesday April 2



 Theresa May has scheduled a five-hour Cabinet meeting instead of the usual 90 minutes. The first three hours will be a political Cabinet in the absence of civil servants – fuelling speculation the senior Tories will consider the prospect of a snap election, the timing of the Prime Minister’s departure or the potential for ministerial resignations if there is a change in Brexit strategy.

Backbench MPs will again take charge of the Commons timetable to consider Brexit plans under Tory MP Sir Oliver Letwin’s scheme to break the Parliamentary deadlock.

After the latest round of indicative votes failed to produce a clear winner, Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay said: “If the House were to agree a deal this week it may still be possible to avoid holding European parliamentary elections.”

That could be an indication the Prime Minister might risk a fourth showdown on her Withdrawal Agreement in the hope that more Tory Eurosceptics will accept the choice is between her plan and a softer Brexit.

– Wednesday April 10



 An emergency summit of European Union leaders will consider any request by the UK for a longer delay to Brexit. To be granted a further postponement the Government will have to set out what purpose it would achieve and it will almost certainly involve taking part in the European elections.

The UK is scheduled to leave the EU on April 12 after MPs rejected the Prime Minister’s deal last week.

If Europe’s leaders have agreed an extension to the Article 50 process, the UK will elect MEPs to the European Parliament.

The breakaway Independent Group of MPs has announced it intends to set up a fully fledged political party – Change UK – to fight the elections on a pro-EU platform.

Nigel Farage will seek to continue as an MEP, this time for the newly formed Brexit Party.

Mrs May warned MPs before they rejected her deal that a long extension would “at least delay and could destroy Brexit”.

Three years after the referendum, it is possible the UK will still be in the European Union, have newly elected MEPs and will be contributing to the Brussels budget.

The current make-up of the House of Commons has so far proved unable to agree on any Brexit plan so the Prime Minister could be tempted to call a snap election to break the deadlock.

But having promised not to lead the Tories into the scheduled 2022 election and then said she would quit before the next phase of the Brexit process, would her MPs allow her to fight another contest as leader?

And would a new election produce a decisive result to give whoever occupies Number 10 a majority to steer such a divisive issue through Parliament?

The call for another referendum was defeated by just 12 votes and campaigners seized on the fact it had more MPs voting in favour than any other option.

The narrow defeat for a customs union will increase pressure on Mrs May to move in favour of the measure.

But that would tear the Tory party apart and would be likely to result in Cabinet resignations as critics of the customs union believe it robs the UK of one of the major Brexit prizes – the ability to strike trade deals with countries such as the US. </s> A defiant British Prime Minister Theresa May says Brexit negotiations are "at an impasse" after the European Union rejected her proposals for leaving the bloc.

Speaking at 10 Downing St. in London, May said it was "not acceptable" that the EU had rejected her plan without offering alternatives.

She said: "We cannot accept anything that does not respect the result of the referendum, just as they cannot accept anything that is not in the interest of their citizens.

"Throughout this process, I have treated the EU with nothing but respect. The UK expects the same."

EU chief Donald Tusk said at a summit in Salzburg that May's plan would not work.

May says both sides want a deal, but remain far apart on key issues of future trade relations and the Irish border. She called for "serious engagement" to solve the problems.

The pound fell on May's comments, trading down a sharp 1.2 percent on the day to $1.3104.

The British government on Friday accused the European Union of slamming the handbrake on Brexit negotiations, after the bloc said Prime Minister Theresa May's blueprint was unworkable.

European Council President Donald Tusk said bluntly at a meeting in Salzburg, Austria on Thursday that parts of May's plan simply "will not work," while French President Emmanuel Macron called pro-Brexit U.K. politicians "liars" who had misled the country about the costs of leaving the 28-nation bloc.

A rattled May insisted that her plan was the only one on the table — and that Britain was prepared to walk away from the EU without a deal if it was rejected.

The rebuff sparked British headlines saying May had been "humiliated," and a strong response from the U.K. government.

Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab accused the EU of rejecting Britain's proposals without offering "credible alternatives" and said the bloc had "yanked up the handbrake" on negotiations.
British Prime Minister Theresa May says the House of Commons must accept Brexit.