A humiliated Theresa May has suffered the worst defeat of any prime minister in parliamentary history after MPs overwhelmingly rejected her two-year bid to secure a Brexit deal.
The EU immediately suggested Britain should cancel its withdrawal.
Donald Tusk, the European Council President, said: “If a deal is impossible and no one wants no-deal, then who will finally have the courage to say what the only positive solution is?”
Read more: Brexit crisis just got much deeper – who, if anyone, will take control?
The Prime Minister’s historic defeat was sealed after 118 of her own Conservative colleagues dismissed her last-ditch appeals and voted against the UK-EU compromise plan.
As the vote numbers were read out - 432 to 202, a majority of 230 against the Brexit deal - a crestfallen Mrs May was faced with Labour MPs shouting: “Resign!”
Jeremy Corbyn said the “catastrophic” defeat represented an “absolutely decisive” verdict by MPs on Mrs May’s handling of the Brexit process and informed MPs that he had tabled a motion of no-confidence in the Conservative Government.
MPs will debate it after Prime Minister’s Questions tomorrow with a vote due at 7pm. If the Labour leader wins, then the country is set on the path to a general election if Mrs May, within 14 days, is unable to recover the confidence of the House of Commons.
If she were to win the vote, then the immediate focus will shift to Mr Corbyn and whether he will back a People’s Vote as, according to a recent poll, a majority of Labour members want.
His hopes of ousting the PM were undermined when the Democratic Unionists’ Sammy Wilson said that the Northern Irish party would back Mrs May in her fight for survival., saying: “We never wanted a change of government, we want a change of policy.”
And a spokesman for the European Research Group of eurosceptic Tories, chaired by Jacob Rees-Mogg, confirmed that its members too would back the Government.
If Mrs May does survive today’s vote, she is set to return to the Commons on Monday to set out a Plan B with the clock ticking on the scheduled date of Brexit in just 73 days’ time on March 29.
In Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon said the PM’s defeat was of “historic proportions” and that what should happen now was clear.
Firstly, the clock must be stopped on the Article 50 process. “This is the only way to avoid any possibility of the UK crashing out of the EU on 29 March without a deal.”
Secondly, a People’s Vote must be held with Remain on the ballot paper; it was the “only credible option to avoid untold damage to the economy and the prospects of future generations,” explained the First Minister.
She added: “The Government has had more than two and a half years to deliver a workable Brexit plan and it has completely failed to do so. The notion that it can do so now in a matter of weeks is farcical.”
Historic defeat for the PM and it has been obvious for months that it was coming. Enough time has been wasted. It is time to stop the Article 50 clock and put this issue back to electorate. Scotland voted to remain in the EU and we should not be dragged out against our will.
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) January 15, 2019
In one of the most dramatic parliamentary occasions in years, the Commons was packed. The green benches were full to brimming as were the spaces around them. Even the doors to the MPs’ outside lobby were open so more members could hear the proceedings. The public and press galleries were also completely full.
Outside, noisy crowds of pro and anti-Brexit protesters gathered in Parliament Square; their chanting could be heard inside the Palace of Westminster.
After another full day of debate, the fifth, culminated in the historic vote, Mrs May told MPs: “The House has spoken and this Government will listen. It is clear this House does not support this deal but tonight’s vote tells us nothing about what it does support.”
She explained she would consult with Conservative colleagues, her DUP allies and senior parliamentarians from across the Commons to identify “what now is required to secure the backing of the House”.
The PM promised to approach the talks “in a constructive spirit” but cautioned that proposals would have to be “genuinely negotiable and have sufficient support in this House” if she was to take them back to Brussels to “explore” with the EU.
Mrs May assured MPs that she was not seeking to run the clock down to a no-deal Brexit in March, insisting that she still hoped to take the UK out of the EU “in an orderly way, with a good deal”.
And in a message to all MPs she said: “Every day that passes without this issue being resolved means more uncertainty, more bitterness and more rancour.
“The Government has heard what the House has said tonight but I ask members on all sides of the House to listen to the British people, who want this issue settled and to work with the Government to do just that.”
Mr Corbyn responded by arguing that the PM was “only attempting to reach out now to try to keep her failed deal alive after it has been so roundly rejected by Parliament on behalf of the people of this country”
He added: “She cannot seriously believe that after two years of failure, she is capable of negotiating a good deal for the people of this country. On the most important issue facing us, this Government has lost the confidence of this House and this country.”
Later, No 10, asked if the PM’s plan was dead, said: “We’re obviously disappointed with the result. The important thing is to try to move forward so that we can deliver the Brexit people voted for.”
Asked if the PM thought her deal could form the basis of a new proposal, a spokesman replied: “Yes…We want to move forward with the agreement that we have struck.”
He explained the talks with other parties, that would begin this week, would be based on “practicality and also negotiability and maybe we will have to test some of those ideas with the EU and we are prepared to do that”.
But the spokesman did not say if Mrs May would invite Mr Corbyn or Ms Sturgeon into Downing St for talks.
The PM still had red lines; she would not support an extension of Article 50 or a People’s Vote. “Those views have not changed,” he declared.
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