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May voting against no-deal after second record-breaking defeat
By PHILIP K. MARZOUK
PRIME Minister Theresa May has suffered another crushing parliamentary defeat with 391 MPs voting against her Brexit deal and opening parliament to a vote on whether to leave without a deal. With a majority of 149 MPs against, the government have claimed the fourth biggest parliamentary defeat in history less than two months after claiming the top spot. This second defeat seems to have well and truly killed May’s deal as an emergency motion was brought forward for MPs to vote on last night whether the UK should leave without a deal. Communicating great regret for the loss May was quick to remind the Commons that “leaving without a deal remains the default unless this house and the EU ratify an agreement” before stating that the house will
vote on a no-deal Brexit. At time of writing, the vote still hasn’t taken place but should parliament voted against no-deal last night, a vote for which May has not ordered a party whip giving Conservative MPs a free vote, the debate will move to a vote on seeking an extension for article 50 today. Following the PM’s statements, Jeremy Corbyn swiftly struck back against the PM to note that May must acknowledge that her deal is “clearly dead” and that nodeal must be taken off the table, a sentiment she agrees with after indicating she will vote against a nodeal Brexit. Corbyn also took the opportunity of May’s defeat to communicate Labour’s vision of Brexit which retains a customs union with the EU, access to the single market and assures worker’s rights in line with EU policy post-Brexit. However, it remains unclear how willing the EU would
be to allow the UK an extension considering many EU member states oppose the idea. Mere minutes after the result from the Commons, Michel Barnier posted on Twitter that “[The EU’s] “nodeal preparations are now more important than ever before.” He followed this statement up yesterday saying the negotiations with the EU27 are done. Speaking in Strasbourg, he stated: “Why would we extend the discussions.” The idea that further negotiations could possibly take place are clearly misplaced. Closer to home, 24 of Greater Manchester’s 27 MPs voted against the government including the Conservative MP for Bolton West, Chris Green. An ardent Brexiteer, Mr Green is aligned with the philosophies of Jacob Rees-Mogg and the European Research Group, who will be hoping that today’s vote results in a no-deal Brexit.
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Ann Coffey, MP for Stockport, was one of the people who defected from Labour to join Chukka Ummunna’s Independent Group (IG) also voted against the deal. The IG are along with the Liberal Democrats and the SNP, pushing for a second referendum with a Remain option in the hope that Brexit is averted in its entirety. The 21 Labour MPs within Greater Manchester voted against for a different reason and that is to push for a general election: still the party line above a second referendum. Going back to the people remains part of the possible permutations from this defeat alongside a general election, the extension of Article 50 or, most worryingly, a no-deal Brexit. Should parliament vote against that, the Brexit confusion will long continue. By the time of publication, we will at least have an answer to whether we are leaving the EU without a deal.