Theresa May’s Brexit Fails, as PM Faces No Confidence Following Historic Commons Defeat

The Brexit deal pushed for by the British Prime Minister Theresa May has been rejected by 230 votes in the largest ever margin for a sitting government in history, triggering the tabling of a no confidence motion against it.

According to a BBC report, the confidence vote is expected to be held around 7 p.m. on Wednesday, January 16.

As the drama unfolded at Westminster, the House of Commons witnessed 202 votes against 432 with the Tories rejecting May’s proposal setting out the terms of Britain’s exit from the European Union (EU) on March 29.

Even as the expectation over prime ministerial resignation followed such a crushing defeat on such a key piece of government legislation, May’s statement in the aftermath of the vote pointed to her intention to carry on.

May said that her government would welcome a vote of no confidence, while noisy protesters supporting either side of the Brexit deal gathered outside in the Parliament Square.

"The house has spoken and the government will listen," she said. "It is clear that the house does not support this deal, but tonight's vote tells us nothing about what it does support."

This was followed by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn tabling a no confidence vote in the government, which could trigger a general election. He said that May had "treated Brexit as a matter for the Conservative Party, rather than the good of the whole country".

The BBC also reported that for May, who had spent over two years working out the deal with the EU, this defeat hit her hard.

May’s Brexit proposal was aimed at bringing about an orderly departure from the EU and setting up a 21-month transition period to negotiate a free trade deal. Even though the UK is still set to leave on March 29, the vote out puts both the timing and the process of departure under further doubt. The vote which was originally supposed to have been held in December had been delayed by May in a bid to win the support of more MPs.

With the PM’s offer to listen to their arguments, those MPs, who had been pushing for a further referendum for either a softer version of the Brexit proposed by May, to stop Brexit altogether or to leave without a deal, would now tug more at the PM.

The BBC’s report added that the PM has also offered cross-party talks to determine a way forward on Brexit, if she succeeded in winning the confidence vote later in the day.

Former Foreign Secretary and leading Brexiteer Boris Johnson referred to the vote as a "bigger defeat than people have been expecting", meaning that May's deal was now almost "dead". However, he added that this mandate also meant that the PM should “go back to Brussels” in order to work out a better deal without the controversial Northern Ireland backstop and also indicated that he would back May in the no-confidence motion.

The Guardian reported that, May has no plans to head to Brussels immediately, No 10 said, implying that the Prime Minister first needed to test what would be acceptable to the MPs,

Meanwhile, as the result was announced in Brussels, the European Council president, Donald Tusk seemed to back a second referendum, urging her to offer a way forward. May was expected to return to Brussels within days to consult with Tusk and the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. The EU was now in listening mode, officials said.

Juncker issued a statement urging the British government to "clarify its intentions as soon as possible", warning that "time is almost up" for them.

Wednesday’s result, if May wins, will put intense pressure on Corbyn to push for a second Brexit referendum. However, his spokesman said that the Labour has not ruled out the tabling of another no-confidence motion at a later stage.

Read More: As Historic Defeat Looms Over Brexit, Theresa May Scrambles to Reduce Margin