Crushed May faces no confidence vote

Theresa May has suffered a crushing defeat, losing the vote on her Withdrawal Agreement tonight by 202 votes to 432 – the worst defeat for a government since the 1920s. In the minutes after MPs voted, Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition, tabled a motion of no confidence in the government, which will be debated on Thursday.

Immediately following the announcement of the result Theresa May made a statement to MPs in which she claimed that it showed what the Commons does not support. “Tonight’s vote told us nothing about what it does support” she said.

The prime minister confirmed that if any opposition parties wished to table a confidence motion the government would make time to debate that motion on Thursday. If the Commons confirms confidence in the government after such a motion, Theresa May affirmed she will meet with her party and the DUP MPs that prop her government to assess how she can possibly get their backing.

She ended by claiming that the government’s strategy is not to run down the clock until the 29th March, and said that she is committed to leaving “in an orderly way with a good deal.”

Corbyn responded to May’s statement with a ferocious attack, calling her defeat “absolutely decisive” and tabling a motion of no confidence.

May will consult cabinet colleagues overnight on what her next steps might be. In search of a way through Number 10 envisages talks taking place with ” senior parliamentarians” from other parties although perhaps not Corbyn – in the days after the no confidence vote, assuming May wins that.

There were farcical scenes ahead of the defeat when four amendments were up to be tabled to the Withdrawal Agreement tonight. Speaker John Bercow invited Jeremy Corbyn, Ian Blackford of the SNP and Sir Edward Leigh Conservative MP to move their amendments, all of whom declined, paving the way for a quick vote and a crushing defeat. Bercow also invited John Baron Conservative MP to move his amendment. Baron’s amendment, that the UK should have a unilateral right to terminate the backstop, a move designed to offer comfort to Number 10, was moved and failed 600 votes to 24.

Wrapping up the debate, ahead of the vote, Theresa May appealed to her MPs and the Labour moderates to support her deal. She lambasted Corbyn’s approach to her Withdrawal Deal; he has pursued a “cynical course” and “forfeited the right to demand loyalty from his MPs” who take a pragmatic approach to Brexit. She says the MPs who are opposed to no deal, and whose constituents rely on jobs which could be badly impacted by a no deal Brexit, should think hard about rejecting her deal.

May added that a vote against her deal is a vote for “uncertainty, division and the very real risk of no deal.”

Corbyn called upon the EU to reopen negotiations (something they have asserted they will not do) if May’s deal failed. He said: “If parliament votes down this deal, then reopening negotiations should not, and cannot, be ruled out.”