No deal Brexit blocked in chaotic night of voting in Commons

MPs vote to take no deal permanently off the table, paving the way for Brexit to be delayed Theresa May says no deal is still the default option  MPs will vote on Thursday on whether to delay Article 50 Follow the latest developments LIVE here
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Theresa May finally conceded that Brexit faces a delay beyond March 29 after her authority was shredded by a major Cabinet rebellion and another crushing Commons defeat.

Struggling to reassert herself, she said the delay was likely to be significantly longer unless MPs back her Brexit deal, which has been rejected twice.

In a night of government disarray, the Prime Minister’s authority was battered as four Cabinet ministers and over a dozen other ministers abstained in a vote to rule out no-deal, defying a three-line whip.

The rebels included Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd, Business Secretary Greg Clark, Scottish Secretary David Mundell and Justice Secretary David Gauke.

Theresa May in the Commons as voting was under way 
PA

Downing Street angered right-wingers by refusing to say they would be sacked.

One minister resigned - Sarah Newton as a minister at the Department for Work and Pensions – before joining in the rebellion.

The abstainers – who appeared to be keeping their jobs - included Foreign Office ministers Alistair Burt and Tobias Ellwood, Solicitor General Robert Buckland and clean energy minister Claire Perry, who attends Cabinet.

Brexit backer Jacob Rees-Mogg said all 20 ministers who abstained had a duty to quit.

Sarah Newton resigned as a minister at the Department for Work and Pensions
Getty Images

In the big vote, Mrs May was defeated by a massive 321 votes to 278, a margin of 43, on a motion to rule out a no-deal Brexit at any time and under any circumstance.

It was a disastrous night for Mrs May who was greeted with loud heckling in the Commons.

Her grip over more key Brexit decisions is now being prised open by cross-party groups of MPs who are determined to force a vote on a soft-Brexit, such as a Norway solution.

In his response, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn supported the search for a Plan B saying he would take part in cross-party talks. “Parliament must now take control of the situation,” he said.

Theresa May in the Commons ahead of tonight's no deal Brexit vote
PA

Mrs May responded by telling MPs they now had a stark choice between backing her unpopular deal, which has been defeated twice already, or accepting a Brexit delay.

They would now have to choose between a “short technical extension” of a couple of months to pass a deal or a much longer extension if they could not agree one. A long delay will mean holding elections to the European parliament in June, she warned.

"I do not think that would be the right outcome," said the Prime Minister. "But the House needs to face up to the consequences of the decisions it has taken."

She confirmed that MPs will vote on Thursday on whether to ask her to request an extension of the Article 50 negotiation process, calling it a "fundamental choice".

The PM’s game-plan appeared to be to use the crisis to muster support for one last attempt to get her own Brexit deal through next week, possibly as early as Monday. The PM may be banking on the fear of a delay spooking right wingers into backing her.

MPs voted overwhelmingly against leaving the EU without a deal in place
@EmilyThornberry

Mr Corbyn said extending Article 50 was "now inevitable". He said: "In the last 24 hours Parliament has decisively rejected both her deal and no deal.

"While an extension of Article 50 is now inevitable, responsibility for that extension lies solely and squarely at the Prime Minister's door."

Calling on Parliament to "take control", Mr Corbyn said MPs must now find a "compromise solution" - including a People's Vote - as "that's what we were elected to do".

Three big votes were held tonight. In the first, the Commons backed an amendment put down by Tory and Labour MPs that called on the Government to rule out a no-deal Brexit at any time by 312 votes to 308.

Next MPs voted on the so-called Malthouse Compromise plan – a form of managed no-deal backed mainly by right wingers. Four Cabinet ministers backed the Malthouse Compromise, indicating they would prefer it to Mrs May’s deal. They were Home Secretary Sajid Javid, Commons leader Andrea Leadsom, International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt and Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson.

Half of all Tory MPs backed the Malthouse plan – but it was roundly rejected by the Commons in a by 374 to 164 – a margin that suggests it has no hope of being a viable alternative. The rejection could improve Mrs May’s chances of persuading more members of the European Research Group to back her deal instead.

In the final vote, on the no-deal issue again, the Government lost by 321 to 278 - a bigger margin of 43 - after many Tories abstained.

Asked if ministers would have to resign for abstaining, No 10 sources said: “We will have to have a look.”

Mrs May’s spokesman said any delay to Brexit must be agreed by the European Union, and the deadline would be the eve of next week’s summit starting on March 21.

He denied the Government was shifting to backing “indicative votes” on rival plans. "We have no plans for indicative votes, I think I've said that on a number of occasions.

"What you have seen in Parliament in recent weeks is a series of plans being put before Parliament by opposition parties and they have all been rejected."

Labour MP Jess Phillips said she would back a 21-month extension to Article 50. She said: "I would want to see a purposeful, long extension that was for something, not just for more of the same."

In a day of open Cabinet divisions, Chancellor Philip Hammond earlier used his Spring Statement to establish himself as the leading voice in Cabinet for a “compromise” Brexit, calling for any deal that could command the support of other parties in the Commons, such as a Norway-style arrangement.

But Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay went in the opposite direction by claiming a no-deal scenario was better than cancelling Brexit, even though it would strain relations between the UK< Government and Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Treasury Minister Liz Truss said earlier that Mrs May’s Brexit deal could yet win backing. “I think it is still alive, I do,” she told Radio 4’s PM.

“Ultimately, when you look at the alternatives - which are a customs union, no Brexit or no-deal - Theresa May’s deal is more attractive than those other three options.”

Mrs May called a surprise informal Cabinet meeting ahead d of the votes to set out her strategy.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove put pressure on the DUP to back Mrs May by warning that direct rule would have to return to Northern Ireland to make decisions to cope with a no-deal scenario.

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