May’s Brexit deal rejected again

British lawmakers yesterday crushingly rejected Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal to quit the European Union, thrusting Brexit into turmoil just 17 days before the planned departure date.Lawmakers voted against May’s amended Brexit deal by 391 to 242 as her last-minute talks with EU chiefs on Monday to assuage her critics’ concerns ultimately proved fruitless.The vote puts the world’s fifth largest economy in uncharted territory with no obvious way forward; exiting the EU without a deal, delaying the March 29 divorce date, a snap election or even another referendum are all now possible.May might even try a third time to get parliamentary support in the hope that hardline eurosceptic lawmakers in her Conservative Party, the most vocal critics of her withdrawal treaty, might change their minds if it becomes more likely that Britain might stay in the EU after all.While she lost, the margin of defeat was smaller than the record 230-vote loss her deal suffered in January.Lawmakers will now vote today on whether Britain should quit the world’s biggest trading bloc without a deal, a scenario that business leaders warn would bring chaos to markets and supply chains, and other critics say could cause shortages of food and medicines.May said the government would not instruct her own party’s lawmakers how to vote.An opposition Labour Party spokesman said this meant she had “given up any pretense of leading the country”.The prime minister, hoarse after Monday’s late-night talks, told lawmakers: “Let me be clear. Voting against leaving without a deal and for an extension does not solve the problems we face.”She said parliament was now at an impasse: “Does it wish to revoke Article 50 (announcing intention to leave the EU)? Does it want to hold a second referendum? Or does it want to leave with a deal, but not this deal?”“The best way to get a good deal, the best way to get a deal you can actually vote for is to keep the threat of a no-deal on the table,” Nigel Dodds, the deputy leader of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), told Sky News.“Once you take that threat off, you are bound to be offered terms which are less advantageous in the sure and certain knowledge that the other side have that you’re not going to walk away.” Supporters of Brexit argue that, while a “no-deal” divorce might bring some short-term instability, in the longer term it would allow the United Kingdom to thrive and forge beneficial trade deals across the world.However, parliament is expected firmly to reject a “no-deal” Brexit as well, so lawmakers would then vote again tomorrow — on whether government should request a delay to the leaving date to allow further talks.Both May and the EU have already ruled out any other changes to the deal, struck after two-and-a-half years of tortuous negotiations.“There will be no third chance,” European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker had said late on Monday. “There will be no further interpretations of the interpretations, no further assurances of the reassurances if the ‘meaningful vote’ tomorrow fails.”A spokesman for European Council President Donald Tusk said he regretted the outcome of the vote, which had “significantly increased the likelihood of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit”.Britons voted by 52% to 48% in 2016 to leave the EU but the decision has not only divided the main parties but also exposed deep rifts in British society, bringing concerns about immigration and globalisation to the fore.Many fear that Brexit will divide the West as it grapples with both the unconventional US presidency of Donald Trump and growing assertiveness from Russia and China, leaving Britain economically weaker and with its security capabilities depleted.Supporters say it allows Britain to control immigration and take advantage of global opportunities, striking new trade deals with the United States and others while still keeping close links to the EU, which, even without Britain, would be a single market of 440mn people.Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labour party who has been trying force snap elections, said May must now admit that her government’s overarching strategy had failed.“Their deal, their proposal, the one the prime minister’s put, is clearly dead,” Corbyn said, calling on her to negotiate for a softer Brexit to keep close economies ties with the EU.After MPs first rejected the 585-page Brexit deal in January, May promised changes to the hated backstop plan which is intended to keep open the border with EU member Ireland.Weeks of talks failed to make a breakthrough, but May made a last-minute trip to Strasbourg to meet EU leaders on the eve of the vote.She announced she had secured the promised “legally binding changes” to the backstop, which would keep Britain in the EU’s customs union if and until a new way was found to avoid frontier checks.Hours later, however, Attorney General Geoffrey Cox said the additions would not completely allay MPs fears of being trapped in the arrangement forever.If MPs vote today to postpone Brexit, the other 27 EU nations would need to agree.Their leaders will meet in Brussels for a summit on March 21-22. But any postponement may have to be short-lived.Juncker on Monday said Brexit “should be complete before the European elections” at the end of May.