Lawmakers on Friday rejected the government’s divorce deal with the European Union for a third time, leaving the date and terms of the U.K.’s departure from the bloc uncertain.
The House of Commons voted 286-344 against the withdrawal agreement struck between Prime Minister Theresa May and the EU.
It follows defeats by even wider margins in January and March, and leaves the government’s blueprint for exiting the bloc in tatters.
Britain now has until April 12 to tell the EU what it plans to do next. It must either cancel Brexit, seek a longer delay or crash out of the bloc without a deal.
U.K. lawmakers plan to hold a series of votes Monday in an attempt to find a new plan.
Almost three years after Britain voted in June 2016 to leave the EU, British politicians remain deeply gridlocked over Brexit. May had urged divided legislators to support the deal and finally break an impasse that has left Britons uncertain when, or even if, the country will leave the EU.
She had asked the lawmakers “to put aside self and party … accept the responsibility given to us by the British people.”
But the deal still was voted down, even after May sacrificed her job for her deal, promising to quit if lawmakers approved the Brexit deal and let Britain leave the EU in May.
Some previously resistant Brexit-backers had moved to support the deal. Former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson _ a likely contender to replace May as Conservative Party leader _ tweeted that rejecting it risked “being forced to accept an even worse version of Brexit or losing Brexit altogether.”
The Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland, with 10 seats in the House of Commons, has refused to back the agreement because it treats Northern Ireland differently from the rest of the U.K.
Parliament voted on the legally binding, 585-page withdrawal agreement that May agreed upon with the EU late last year. It sets out the terms of Britain’s departure _ including its financial divorce settlement with the EU and the rights of EU and U.K. citizens after Brexit _ but not a shorter declaration on future ties, which is also part of the agreed-upon divorce deal.
The EU confirmed Friday that a U.K. Parliament vote to pass the withdrawal agreement alone was “necessary and sufficient” to secure Britain’s orderly departure on May 22.
Removing the political declaration from the Brexit vote altered the deal enough to overcome a parliamentary ban against asking lawmakers the same question over and over again.
May also hoped severing the link between the two parts of the deal would blunt opposition _ although there was little sign of that.
Labour Party Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer said removing the political declaration from the vote made Brexit “blind, because you don’t know where you are going, now the prime minister has said she is stepping down.”
“So, the political declaration, the future relationship, is going now to be determined in a Tory leadership exercise,” he said.
Two years ago, Britain triggered a two-year countdown to Brexit, with the departure date set for March 29, 2019.
That date has arrived and the U.K. is at an impasse that has frustrated EU politicians trying to negotiate an exit agreement, and surprised observers around the world who had viewed Britain’s 1,000-year-old parliamentary system as a model of stability.
But with British politicians deadlocked over whether to approve a divorce deal, the EU last week granted an extension. Under its terms, if the withdrawal agreement is approved by 11 p.m. Friday U.K. time, Britain will leave the 28-nation bloc on May 22.
If it is rejected, Britain has until April 12 to announce a new plan _ possibly holding a new Brexit vote or an early general election _ or leaving the EU without a deal, risking severe disruption for people and businesses.
Stefaan De Rynck, a senior adviser to EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, said a no-deal Brexit “is a likely scenario.”
“We need to conclude this process now in a way that avoids a no-deal,” he said at a conference in London.
The EU has indicated it could grant Britain a longer delay to Brexit if it plans to change course and tack toward a softer departure. That would, however, require the U.K. to participate in elections for the European Parliament in late May.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the bloc was open to extending the departure process by “six or nine or 12 months.”
The U.K. government has warned pro-Brexit politicians that rejecting May’s deal could see Brexit delayed indefinitely. International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said Friday was “the last chance we have to vote for Brexit as we understood it.”
The Brexit political morass has left Britons on both sides of the debate frustrated and angry. Some Brexit supporters, who had planned to be celebrating Friday, were protesting instead.
Thousands of demonstrators converged on Parliament Square as lawmakers voted inside, waving Union Jack flags and singing, “Bye-Bye EU.”
Retired charity worker Mandy Childs, one of a band of hard-core Brexit supporters walking across England to London under the slogan “Leave Means Leave,” said she felt “heartbroken.”
“We were told over a 100 times by a British prime minister that we would be leaving on the 29th of March, 2019,” she said.
“To do that, promise the British people that and then say ‘Actually, no, we need to just put it back’ _ absolute betrayal. And how dare she?”
The Latest on Britain’s exit from the European Union (all times local):
3 p.m.
British Prime Minister Theresa May says the implications of the lawmaker’s rejection of her European Union divorce deal are “grave.”
Speaking Friday after Parliament voted down her deal, May told lawmakers that it should be a “matter of profound regret” that “once again we have been unable to support leaving the European Union in an orderly fashion.”
She says “the implications of the House’s decision are grave.”
The decision leaves Britain’s departure up in the air. The legal default would be to leave the bloc without a divorce deal on April 12, although Parliament would not allow that.
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2:45 p.m.
British lawmakers have rejected the government’s divorce deal with the European Union for a third time, leaving the date and terms of the U.K.’s departure from the bloc uncertain.
The House of Commons voted 286-344 against the withdrawal agreement struck between Prime Minister Theresa May and the EU.
It follows defeats by even wider margins in January and March, and leaves the government’s blueprint for exiting the bloc in tatters.
Britain now has until April 12 to tell the EU what it plans to do next. It must either cancel Brexit, seek a longer delay or crash out of the bloc without a deal.
U.K. lawmakers plan to hold a series of votes Monday in an attempt to find a new plan.
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2:35 p.m.
Members of the U.K. Parliament are walking through one of two lobbies off of the House of Commons chamber for the latest vote on Brexit.
One side is for “yes” votes and the other is for “no” votes.
Their names are recorded as they pass through, and the vote total for each side is announced to Speaker John Bercow in the House of Commons.
Earlier, U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May said voting on her EU divorce deal is “the last opportunity to guarantee Brexit” as she sought to rally support for the measure.
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2:20 p.m.
U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May says voting on her EU divorce deal is “the last opportunity to guarantee Brexit” as she sought to rally support for the measure.
The House of Commons will be voting later Friday on May’s twice-rejected European Union divorce deal amid continuing opposition from hard-line Brexit supporters and Northern Ireland lawmakers.
If the deal is rejected, Britain will crash out of the bloc in two weeks unless the EU agrees to extend the Brexit deadline.
May appealed to the House of Commons to accept her deal, saying any extension would “at least delay and could destroy Brexit.”
The agreement still faced substantial opposition even after May sacrificed her job for her deal, promising to quit if lawmakers approved the Brexit deal and let Britain leave the EU on May 22.
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2:05 p.m.
Spain has taken charge of the European Union’s anti-piracy operations off Somalia, which had been led by a United Kingdom set to leave the European bloc.
Spanish vice-admiral Antonio Martorell relieved British major general Charlie Strickland as commander of the operation in a handing-over ceremony of the EU flag on Friday.
The headquarters of the EUNAVFOR Atalanta operation that was based at Northwood, just outside London, will now be at Spain’s southern port of Rota, where U.S. troops are also stationed.
The anti-piracy operation’s headquarters is just one European institution that Britain is losing as a cost of its scheduled divorce from the rest of the EU.
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2 p.m.
Thousands of demonstrators are converging on Parliament Square as lawmakers prepared to vote on Prime Minister Theresa May’s divorce plan from the European Union.
Demonstrators demanding that Britain leave the European Union held flags, placards and banners. Singing “Bye-Bye EU” the demonstrators demanded that lawmakers implement the results of a June 2016 referendum to leave the European Union.
Some protesters brought traffic to a halt outside the Palace of Westminster, where lawmakers were debating whether to accept the 585-page Withdrawal Agreement.
A far larger march took place last week, in which hundreds of thousands of anti-Brexit protesters demanded a new referendum.
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1:40 p.m.
The chief European Union’s Brexit negotiator says that a chaotic no-deal departure of Britain from the bloc “has become more likely.”
Michel Barnier said that such a no-deal “was never our scenario but the EU 27 is now prepared.” He was speaking in Poland’s capital a short time before the U.K. House of Commons was due to vote a third time on the twice-rejected legal withdrawal agreement.
Referring to the lawmakers in the British House of Commons, Barnier said that “what we now need is a positive choice to move forward” and that it was the “personal responsibility” of each member to “choose what they want.”
He said the deal negotiated between Britain’s government and the EU is a “carefully balanced compromise” that took two years to negotiate and “is not open to re-negotiation.”
He spoke in favour of a broad future co-operation in many areas including trade, foreign policy and security.
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12:10 p.m.
The European Union says that a “yes” vote on Britain’s EU withdrawal agreement from U.K. lawmakers will be enough to assure an orderly exit of Britain from the bloc.
Parliament is voting Friday on the 585-page withdrawal agreement that sets out the terms of Britain’s departure _ including its financial settlement with the EU and the rights of EU and U.K. citizens _ but not a political declaration on future ties that is also part of the overall divorce deal agreed between the U.K. and the EU late last year.
European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said Friday that “the withdrawal agreement negotiated between both parties is indeed both necessary and sufficient to ensure the orderly withdrawal of the UK.”
Not including the political declaration altered the parliamentary vote enough to overcome a ban against asking lawmakers the same question over and over again.
May also hoped severing the link between the two parts of the deal would blunt opposition _ though there was little sign of that.
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11:50 a.m.
Poland’s prime minister says the European Union is open to further extending Britain’s departure from the bloc if British lawmakers reject the withdrawal deal for the third time.
Premier Mateusz Morawiecki was speaking to reporters Friday after talks with EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier.
Morawiecki said that in case Friday’s vote in the House of Commons fails, the EU is “open to extending the departure process” on a motion from London, by “six or nine or 12 months, these options are available.”
He said the EU would best like Britain to stay, or at least leave in an orderly way.
Barnier is expected to deliver a speech on “Europe after Brexit” at Warsaw’s College of Europe later Friday.
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9 a.m.
On the day that Britain was originally scheduled to leave the European Union, lawmakers are facing what Theresa May’s government describes as the “last chance to vote for Brexit.”
Friday’s parliamentary vote is on only part of the deal that Prime Minister Theresa May negotiated with the EU, in a bid by May to blunt the opposition that has already forced her to ask for an extension.
International Trade Secretary Liam Fox told the BBC that people will wonder why Parliament hasn’t lived up to its commitment to abide by voters’ decision to leave the EU.
Fox says: “It is, in fact, really, the last chance we have to vote for Brexit as we understood it today. … I think all MPs will have to reflect today who are the masters and who are the servants in our democratic process.”