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DEBATE: After a breathtaking leadership challenge to the Prime Minister, has anything actually changed?

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After a breathtaking leadership challenge to the Prime Minister, has anything actually changed?

Mo Lovatt, lecturer in Cultural and Creative Industries and co-chair of The Great Debate, says YES.

The Prime Minister has survived a leadership challenge and some argue that nothing has changed. In Brexit terms, this is true: she remains stubbornly positioned between a parliament that won’t back her deal, and an EU that claims no other deal is possible.

But, despite this impasse, the vote represents a huge sea-change for future proceedings at Westminster.

Theresa May’s “win” was by no means convincing – she no longer has the support of over a third of her MPs and, of those who have pledged their loyalty, 131 are Remainers, compared to 31 backing Leave. The arithmetic is stark.

May is now firmly in the hands of Remain-backing MPs. The power of the PM has always depended on an interplay between her and the cabinet, the party, and parliament. In order to win the confidence vote, she has promised not to fight another election. In doing so, she has given away her greatest power-card. She is severely weakened, guaranteeing that more change is set to come.

Ben Kelly, commentator for Reaction, says NO.

This doesn’t bode well. A third of the parliamentary Conservative party has no confidence in Theresa May – 37 per cent of Tory MPs think that they need a new Prime Minister with a new Brexit plan. May must win over many of them to get her deal through.

She needs cross-party support from moderate MPs, but she is still tone deaf and has the same appalling lack of skills in diplomacy

We’re back to where we were on Monday. As it stands, the PM can’t win a vote on a deal she can’t renegotiate, and it’s doubtful that a rather superficial protocol from the EU will boost her support. Yet after the vote, as before, the choices remain the same.

Nothing has changed. The withdrawal agreement is still the only deal on the table. If we are to have an orderly Brexit, it must be approved, perhaps with some clarifications. Her opponents do not have a credible alternative plan.

The clock is ticking. Nothing. Has. Changed.