Third time lucky? Nah
Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement has been rejected by the House of Commons for the third time, on the day Britain was originally meant to leave the European Union.
MPs voted on the Withdrawal Agreement only on Friday afternoon – without a political declaration setting out future trade plans for Britain’s relationship with the EU – but rejected it by a margin of 344 in favour and 286 against.
House of Commons vote on the Withdrawal Agreement, result:
AYES: 286
NOES: 344— Britain Elects (@BritainElects) March 29, 2019
May criticised the house for its continued rejection of every possible Brexit option after the vote.
“I fear we are reaching the limits of the process in this house. This house has rejected no deal, it has rejected no Brexit, and on Wednesday it rejected all variations of the deal on the table,” said May.
“This government will continue to press the case for an orderly Brexit that the result of the referendum demands.”
The vote comes after, Commons speaker John Bercow initially said he would prevent the prime minister from bringing her deal to the table for a third time, citing a precedent that stipulates that the question on the table must be “substantially different” to the one previously asked.
As such, the government has insisted the vote does not represent a rejection of a third ‘meaningful vote’ as the motion did not cover the future relationship with Europe.
In a meeting with the 1922 committee, Theresa May had promised the parliamentary Tory party that if the deal was voted through, she would resign, making way for a new prime minister to take the reins for future negotiations. But after another failure to muster enough support for a majority, she remains in limbo.
Does she stay or does she go? In the words of an anonymous cabinet minister, per BBC political editor on Newsnight: “Fuck knows. I’m past caring. It’s like the living dead in here.”
What we do know is that the deadline remains April 12, and leaving with no deal looks more and more likely.
