Theresa May has suffered another embarrassing defeat in the House of Commons, after her latest attempt to win support for a renegotiated Brexit deal failed.
The vote was effectively scuttled by the European Research Group (ERG) Eurosceptic MPs led by Jacob Rees-Mogg, who abstained from the vote because “it appeared to rule out a no-deal Brexit”, The Guardian says.
May has “consistently rejected calls to rule out a no-deal Brexit”, The BBC says, however some Tories believed that the wording of the government motion still “opened the door for that”.
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In the end, the result of the vote was a disappointing one for the prime minister, with the deal being defeated, 303 votes to 258, a 45 vote shortfall. May had been counting on a win to help her to pressure the EU to reopen negotiations.
Following the loss, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called on the prime minister to admit that she had failed to deliver a Brexit strategy, accusing her of simply “running down the clock and hoping something will turn up”.
May was not present in the Commons, having reportedly been advised that she was going to lose another vote, stifling opposition chances to address the prime minister directly.
“I was going to ask her to come to the despatch box now and admit that her strategy has failed,” Corbyn said. “The government cannot go on ignoring Parliament or ploughing on without a coherent plan.”