British Prime Minister Theresa May’s government on Wednesday, 16 January, narrowly won a no-confidence vote in the Parliament, but still faces a battle to keep control of Brexit.
May won a narrow victory, 325 votes to 306 votes, on an Opposition motion seeking to topple her government and trigger a general election.
This comes a day after Parliament rejected her Brexit deal by a historic margin. Although the Brexit defeat was widely expected, the scale of the rout — 432 to 202 — was devastating for May’s leadership.
- After winning the no-confidence vote, May promised to hold talks with Opposition leaders in a bid to find a way forward for Brexit
- The Brexit deal defeat has left May’s leadership wobbling and the government with just a few days, until 21 January, to come up with ‘Plan B’
- Unless a deal is ratified, Britain is set for a disorderly exit from the bloc on 29 March, with potentially tumultuous economic and social consequences
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May Calls for Politicians to 'Put Self Interests Aside' After Winning Confidence Vote
British Prime Minister Theresa May says she has started meeting leaders of opposition parties about Brexit and called for politicians to "put self-interest aside" and find a consensus on Britain's path out of the European Union.
May spoke outside her 10 Downing St. residence after her government narrowly won a no-confidence vote in Parliament on Wednesday evening.
She has been meeting with leaders from rival political parties in a bid to break Britain's political impasse over Brexit. On Tuesday, lawmakers resoundingly rejected the divorce deal May's government struck with the EU; the prime minister has until the start of next week to come back to Parliament with a Plan B.
May said she was disappointed the leader of the main opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, had so far refused to meet her. She said her "door remains open."
Theresa May Wins No-Confidence Vote, But is Still Beset by Brexit
British Prime Minister Theresa May survived a no-confidence vote in Parliament on Wednesday to remain in office – but saw more of her power ebb away as she battled to keep Brexit on track after lawmakers demolished her European Union divorce deal.
May won a narrow victory, 325 votes to 306 votes, on an Opposition motion seeking to topple her government and trigger a general election.
Now it's back to Brexit, where May is caught between the rock of her own red lines and the hard place of a Parliament that wants to force a radical change of course.
After winning the vote, May promised to hold talks with leaders of opposition parties and other lawmakers, starting immediately, in a bid to find a way forward for Britain's EU exit.
(AP)
We Are Leaving the EU on 29 March: Theresa May
Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday that Britain will be leaving the European Union on 29 March, and that the bloc would only consider extending the ‘Article 50’ negotiating period if there was a credible alternative exit plan.
“The government’s policy is that we are leaving the European Union on the 29th of March. But the EU would only extend Article 50 if actually it was clear that there was a plan that was moving towards an agreed deal,” she told Parliament, a day after her proposed Brexit deal was rejected by a large margin.
UK's Labour Calls on May to Try a Brexit Compromise to Get Deal Passed
Prime Minister Theresa May could eventually get a Brexit deal through Parliament if she negotiated a compromise with the Opposition Labour Party, the second most powerful man in the party told Reuters on Wednesday.
May’s Brexit deal suffered a crushing defeat in Parliament on Tuesday, triggering political chaos that could lead to a disorderly exit from the EU, a reversal of the 2016 decision to leave or a compromise deal of some sort.
The Labour Party’s Finance Policy Chief, John McDonnell, said Labour would support May if she agreed to stay in a permanent customs union with the EU, a close relationship with its single market and greater protections for workers and consumers.