Theresa May could put her Brexit deal to parliament a fourth time
Prime Minister Theresa May is reportedly mulling putting her Brexit deal to parliament a fourth time, after it was defeated in the commons by a reduced margin yesterday.
The deal was defeated by 344 votes to 286, a margin of 58, which is narrower than the two previous attempts which resulted in defeat by 240 votes and 149 votes.
May’s promise to stand down if the deal went through and looming realisations among some Brexiters that a long delay could risk the entire Brexit project meant her government was able to persuade longstanding eurosceptic critics such as Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Dominic Raab to join them in the aye lobby for the first time.
Addressing the House May said it was "matter of profound regret that once again this house been unable to support leaving European Union in an orderly way" and that the UK was now due to leave the EU on 12 April, which she said did not allow enough time to agree or ratify a deal.
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But at the same time, the House had "made it clear it will not leave without a deal", she said.
The result meant the UK would have to hold EU Parliamentary elections, she said.
She also warned that any further extension would have to be for a "clear purpose" and would need to be approved unanimously by the 27 EU leaders.
"On Monday, this House will continue the process to see if there is a stable majority for a particular alternative version of our future relationship with the EU," she said.Of course, all of the options will require the withdrawal agreement.
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"Mr Speaker, I fear we are reaching the limits of this process in this House."
She continued: "This House has rejected no deal. It has rejected no Brexit. On Wednesday it rejected all the variations of the deal on the table. And today it has rejected approving the withdrawal agreement alone and continuing a process on the future.
"This government will continue to press the case for the orderly Brexit that the result of the referendum demands."
A second round of indicative votes is expected on Monday with MPs able to submit their options to speaker John Bercow who will then select the options to be debated and voted on.
In the last round of indicative votes on Wednesday, none of the eight options put forward was able to command a majority of MPs.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called on May to resign and hold a general election.
“If the prime minister can’t accept that, then she must go, not at an indeterminate date in the future, but now, so that we can decide the future of this country through a general election,” he said.
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