BREXIT: MP’s have rejected the latest Brexit motion from Theresa May by 303 votes to 258 …
MPs have rejected the latest Brexit motion from Theresa May by 303 votes to 258. Immediately after the result was announced, Leader of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn said that it showed ‘there is no majority for the prime minister’s course of action in dealing with Brexit’.
‘The government cannot keep on ignoring parliament or ploughing on towards March 29 without a coherent plan,’ the Labour leader said.
‘She cannot keep on just running down the clock and hoping that something will turn up that will save her day and save her face.’
He then called on the Prime Minister, who was not present for the vote, to admit that her ‘strategy has failed’ and bring forward a plan ‘that can deal with the stresses and anxieties that so many people all over this country are feeling’.
Speaker John Bercow told the Commons that it was not ‘obligatory’ for Mrs May to be present for the vote.
Earlier in the evening, MPs also voted against a SNP amendment to extend Article 50 by at least three more months, changing the date for Brexit from the 29th March. This was defeated by 315 votes to 93, making a majority of 222.
They also voted down a Labour amendment calling for the government to hold another meaningful vote by February 27th or declare a deal is no longer on the table and outline its next steps. It was defeated by 322 votes to 306, creating a majority of 16.
After the vote, Labour MP Chuka Umunna said that only a People’s Vote would resolve the ‘impasse in Parliament’ over Brexit. ‘May will not listen to Parliament. It is imperative we have the time,’ he said. ‘It is hard to see how you solve the impasse in Parliament without going to the people.’
He continued: ‘I will not be any part of any Tory Brexit. I suspect Jermey Corbyn still wants us to leave the EU, but he is leader now of a party who does not want to leave the EU.’ But Tory chairman James Cleverly has said ‘This vote does not prove anything at all. The motion is not legally binding.
Our European partners will see for the good of our and their economies that a deal needs to be made.’ A Downing Street spokesman said that Corbyn had ‘yet again put partisan considerations ahead of the national interest’. They said that by voting against the government’s motion he was ‘in effect voting to make no deal more likely’.
