British Prime Minister Theresa May has suffered another humiliating defeat by 303 to 258, as a majority of 45 MPs voted against her Brexit plans on 14th February.
This failure worsens Theresa May’s hand in EU negotiations and she again lost control of her party in the crucial final weeks before Britain is due to leave the EU on 29 March.
The defeat came after the pro-Brexit Tory European Research Group announced they had taken a “collective decision” to abstain.
Immediately after the vote, Jeremy Corbyn said he was “surprised” the prime minister wasn’t present in the Commons “to hear the result of this vote”.
He added: “I was going to ask her to come to the despatch box now and admit her strategy has failed and brought forward to the House a coherent plan.
“A coherent plan that can deal with the stresses and anxieties that so many people all over this country are feeling that can be brought to this House so we can make some progress forward to bring people together and prevent a catastrophic no-deal Brexit on 29th March.”
Pro-Europe Tory Anna Soubry said: “This is a serious blow to the credibility of the prime minister. We are in such a mess, I’m afraid, that parliament is going to have to take back control of this.
“It is a symbol of the profound lack of leadership in both political parties.”
After the defeat, prominent Eurosceptic Bernard Jenkin MP said: “It’s an unfortunate fiasco that the government’s clumsiness created.
“I don’t know why the government doesn’t consult a bit more widely before they table these motions. There are 110 Eurosceptic Tory MPs who helped defeat the withdrawal agreement – not one of us was consulted.”
The voting figures showed it was not just hardline Brexiteers that failed to support the government – a number of Tory Remainers also declined to vote, as more than a fifth of the party in the Commons failed to back the government.
>Juthy Saha
Embarrassing Defeat of Theresa May on Brexit Vote
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