Vote: MP’s in the UK try to block no-deal Brexit
In another embarrassing defeat, MP’s have now voted in favour of an amendment, which would not allow a no-deal Brexit to take place. This puts more pressure on the Prime Minister, who is already facing the prospect of her deal being rejected. She is unable to make a new deal with the EU, which could add to hostilities between political parties.
MP’s joined together in a recent opposition, which supported changes to the Finance Bill; this was carried by 303 votes to 297. It would make it much harder for a no-deal to become reality. The final vote on the proposed deal will take place next week, on the 15th of January. The parliamentary debates, however, will begin this week.
Furthermore, in a recent MP survey, the general feeling is that the government will fail to find an alternative to the deal that’s on the table. Nearly three-quarters of MP’s surveyed said they didn’t like the way the prime minister was handling negotiations, and half said that remaining in the customs union would not be honouring the result of the referendum.
According to the former minister, Sir Oliver Letwin, this shows that MP’s would try and block a no-deal. He said: “I want to make it abundantly clear to my honourable friends who are voting against the prime minister’s deal, which I shall be supporting, that the majority in this House will not allow a no-deal exit to occur on the 29 March.”
Others, including labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, echoed this view. He said that this vote highlights the fact that “there is no majority in parliament, the cabinet or the country for crashing out of the EU without an agreement”. However, just because MP’s vote against a no-deal, Theresa May wouldn’t be required to follow the vote, as the UK referendum result has set out that the country will leave the EU in March.
