Brexit deal rejected (again): Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement suffers third heavy loss in the House of Commons.
Protesters gather in Westminster: Crowds of pro-Brexit demonstrators are growing outside Parliament.
Emergency summit: European leaders will meet on April 10. If the UK does not ask for another Brexit extension, it crashes out without a deal on April 12.
As Britain comes to the end of another punishing week of political chaos, we’re winding down our live coverage from London.
We’ll be back over the weekend and throughout next week. In the meantime, here’s what comes next for Brexit.
According to a tweet by the Metropolitan police, five people have been arrested during today’s Brexit protests, including two for assault, and one for assaulting a police officer.
Some of the pro-Brexit protesters outside Parliament this evening have harassed journalists covering the demonstration.
CNN crews were shoved and shouted at, while a film crew for Britain’s Channel 4 broadcaster was also pushed away by dozens of demonstrators.
The protesters had just watched a speech by far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson.
The EU should give Britain an unlimited extension to Brexit, a German MEP has told CNN.
With the exception of pro-Brexit British parliamentarians such as Nigel Farage, “I haven’t met any member of the European Parliament that doesn’t regret Britain leaving,” said Hans-Olaf Henkel.
European leaders will likely decide on further postponing Brexit at an emergency summit called for April 10.
Henkel added that Friday’s defeat for Theresa May’s Brexit deal raised the prospects of a second vote on leaving the EU. “They keep the door open for a second referendum—with hopefully a different result to the last one,” he said.
If Britain gets a longer extension to its Brexit deadline, it would be required to participate in the European elections. In that case, said Henkel, re-allocating seats to Britain would be a straightforward process. “It is the right of the British to get their 73 seats.”
France has warned Britain it could reject another request to delay Brexit unless Parliament can urgently find an alternative and credible way forward.
“The risk of Britain leaving the European Union without a deal has risen very sharply following Parliament’s rejection of the withdrawal agreement for a third time,” a spokeswoman for French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday.
Macron was a key opponent of Theresa May’s request to delay Brexit at last week’s summit in Brussels.
He will be expected to pursue a similarly hard line at the emergency summit on April 10.
“The idea of ??a long extension, involving UK participation in the European elections, can only be considered if the alternative plan is credible, supported by a majority in the British Parliament,” the spokeswoman for Macron added.
“An extension is not automatic. France’s priority will be to ensure the proper functioning of the European Union; we must look to the future and not sacrifice the European project.”
During today’s drama inside and outside Parliament, the UK’s Electoral Commission announced that Vote Leave – the main group that campaigned for Brexit during the 2016 referendum – has dropped an appeal against a ruling that it broke electoral law during the campaign.
The group will now pay the ￡61,000 ($79,000) fine it has been handed.
“Vote Leave has today withdrawn its appeal and related proceedings against the Electoral Commission’s finding of multiple offences under electoral law, committed during the 2016 EU referendum campaign.”
Labour MP Lisa Nandy says she was harassed, alongside others, by protesters outside Parliament today. “Our staff were advised to leave the building for their own safety,” she said. “This is not normal.”
The complaint comes as pro-Brexit protests continue outside the House of Commons, amid a heavy police presence..
SNP lawmaker Joanna Cherry earlier said she struggled to make her way to media interviews due to an “intimidatory atmosphere” outside Parliament. She did eventually arrive, and gave interviews to CNN and other outlets.
European leaders have reacted to news of Theresa May’s third Brexit defeat with regret, concern and frustration.
EU Council President Donald Tusk confirmed he would be calling an emergency summit of European leaders just minutes after the results were announced.
Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator, said British lawmakers need to find a way forward to avoid no deal. “We are ready to change the Political Declaration” to allow for a vote on a new path, he added.
Fellow EU negotiator Michel Barnier expressed regret from Poland, and also appealed for Britain to confirm a new way forward.
“I regret the further rejection of the Withdrawal Agreement. We continue to advocate an orderly #Brexit, even if it is now becoming less and less likely,” Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz added.
European Commission Secretary General Martin Selmayr, meanwhile, reiterated that no-deal is still the default outcome on April 12.
Theresa May has been trying to win over the hardliners in her party for weeks. Many flipped –?especially after her offer to resign if the deal went through –?but it wasn’t enough. Voting tallies show that 34 Conservative MPs opposed the deal on Friday.
That group included Brexiteers such as Steve Baker and Mark Francois – who broke with colleagues including Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg by standing firm against the deal – as well as pro-Remain lawmakers such as Dominic Grieve and Justine Greening.
Here’s how each party voted:
Ayes - 286 in total: 277 Conservative MPs; five Labour MPs; four Independent MPs.
Noes - 344 in total: 34 Conservative MPs; 234 Labour MPs; 34 Scottish National Party MPs; 11 Liberal Democrat MPs; 10 DUP MPs; four Plaid Cymru MPs; one Green Party MP; 16 independent MPs, including the 11 lawmakers that make up the Independent Group.
Former UKIP leader and one of the chief architects of Brexit, Nigel Farage, has just spoken to cheering crowds at the pro-Brexit rally outside Parliament.
It’s clear what he wants: A no-deal Brexit. “Let’s hope and pray” that Britain leaves the EU without a deal, he told supporters. “I fear that the betrayal we’ve seen … will probably be repeated on the 12th of April.”
But Farage expressed his determination to fight European elections and, if necessary, a second Brexit vote.
“If they force us to fight a second referendum, we’ll beat them by a bigger margin than last time,” he added.
The streets outside the House of Commons are filled with demonstrators expressing their anger, on what had previously been identified as Britain’s Brexit date. “People here outside the House of Commons, Whitehall and across our country must have their votes respected,” pro-Brexit MP Henry Smith tweeted from the protests.
It is a glorious afternoon in the Belgian capital. Around the EU institutions, people are outside enjoying the March sunshine as the bars and cafes put tables and chairs on the pavements of south west Brussels.
While Brexit may be the main topic of conversation inside the European Union building, outside, Belgians would rather talk about the current state of their own political crisis – a caretaker government has been in place since 2018 which holds very little power. That, and the European Parliament’s decision to ban on single use plastic by 2021.
Brexit, it seems, is very much the UK’s problem.
Protesters outside Parliament are “pretty happy” that May’s deal has failed, CNN’s Matthew Chance has found. “They don’t regard it as the kind of Brexit that they want,” he says.
“If you scratch a little deeper, you get to this underlying concern that people have been expressing – that Brexit might not happen at all,” Chance adds.
“There is a concern a lengthy delay may mean a soft Brexit, or no Brexit at all.”
“Democracy has been destroyed today,” one of the demonstrators, Harry from Newcastle, told CNN. “I would have liked to have left with a deal, but we voted to leave. There was no deal mentioned when we decided to leave.”
UKIP leader Gerard Batten, far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (also known as Tommy Robinson) and pro-Brexit pub chain owner Tim Martin were among the figures speaking to enthusiastic crowds on Friday afternoon, while police surrounded Parliament square and helicopters hovered overhead.
Meanwhile, SNP lawmaker Joanna Cherry said she struggled to get to media interviews because of an “intimidatory atmosphere” outside Parliament. (She eventually got through the crowds and appeared on CNN, among other outlets.)
The looming threat of a “chaotic” no-deal Brexit is troubling workers and businesses, the US Chamber of Commerce has said.
Marjorie Chorlins, executive director of the Chamber’s US-UK Business Council, issued a statement in response to Parliament again rejecting Theresa May’s Brexit deal.
Here’s what it says:
The question everyone is asking in Westminster is, what next? The honest answer is no one really knows. But there are some fixed points and other things that can be inferred.
The next week is crucial –?if a credible alternative to Theresa May’s thrice-defeated deal is not found, the UK will crash out of the EU without a deal.
Here’s a road map for the next crucial Brexit dates.
Monday April 1: Second day of debates controlled by lawmakers, when they will again have their say on various Brexit alternatives.
While there was no majority for any of the eight options put before Parliament last week, a plan for the UK to remain in the EU’s customs union failed by only six votes. A proposal for a second referendum gained the most “yes” votes overall.
Lawmakers are now busy revising the plans to see if they can be made more likely to pass. Some may be combined with others.
Wednesday April 3: Oliver Letwin, the veteran Conservative parliamentarian who is running the process, also wants to take over Commons business on Wednesday. This would presumably be a final effort to secure a majority around one of the Brexit plans.
Thursday April 4: Theresa May indicated she would allow the Letwin process run its course. That makes Thursday something of a decision day. If the indicative votes provide some clarity, the Prime Minister could, conceivably, ask Parliament to choose between her plan and the winner of the indicative votes.
As Westminster correspondents noted, it’s not clear how this would work.
Another option for May would be to call a general election or stand aside for another leader to sort out the situation.
Any of these options would require the UK to seek a long extension to the Article 50 process. The EU has said it would be only be open to such an extension if the UK presented a credible plan to break the deadlock.
The European Commission warned that that the UK could crash out of the EU without a deal:
Wednesday April 10: European leaders will convene for an emergency summit called by EU Council President Donald Tusk. They could use this summit to discuss a British request for a delay to Brexit. Or it could be used to finalise preparations for a no-deal Brexit on April 12.
This is what the Irish Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar, said:
Friday April 12: This is still the date where Britain is set to leave the European Union. If no longer delay is agreed and no Brexit deal is passed in Parliament, the UK will crash out with no deal.
There’s a lot of talk flying around about canceling Brexit by revoking Article 50 – the mechanism by which a member state can leave the EU.
The European Court of Justice ruled in December that it was acceptable for a member state to unilaterally revoke Article 50.
It’s the favored option of the Scottish National Party (see previous post), and the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. “The PM must now do the right thing – immediately revoke Article 50 and give the British public the final say on Brexit,” Khan said.
Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.
While, in the ECJ’s advocate general’s opinion, unilateral withdrawal is fine, the key paragraph of his conclusion reads as follows:
The “constitutional requirements” condition means it’s likely parliament would have to approve revocation – something that it has rejected before.
The ECJ agreed on this point and offered further clarification on another.
“To revoke that notification unilaterally, in an unequivocal and unconditional manner, by a notice addressed to the European Council in writing, after the Member State concerned has taken the revocation decision in accordance with its constitutional requirements. The purpose of that revocation is to confirm the EU membership of the Member State concerned under terms that are unchanged as regards its status as a Member State, and that revocation brings the withdrawal procedure to an end.”
Place the fact that withdrawal must also be “unequivocal” and “unconditional” the Advocate General’s comments about “abusive practice”, this makes things tricky. In the opinion of the Institute for Government, this “implies that the UK could not revoke to get a breathing space in order to prepare better to resend the Article 50 notification in due course.”
All of this stuff is unprecedented and a little bit murky. But one thing is clear: As with all things Brexit, nothing is straightforward.
This post has been updated to include the ECJ’s judgment for clarity.
The next date lawmakers will be circling in their Brexit diaries is Monday, when the second round of indicative votes take place. If any alternative plan gains a majority, it could help pave a way out of the country’s Brexit standstill.
One plan that will be put forward for a second time is revoking Article 50 and halting the Brexit process altogether.
The plan will be “tabled once again for Monday, in a slightly different form,” Joanna Cherry, the SNP lawmaker behind the motion, told CNN. “This time in a?form that I am confident will command more support.”
“In order to command cross-party support, what I’m trying to do is use revocation as a backstop, a fail-safe, to prevent Britain leaving with no deal,” Cherry said. “Leaving with no deal is not the only option.”
Cherry said around 40 MPs have already pledged their support to the motion, including Conservative anti-Brexit MP Dominic Grieve, but she expects many more to be added. The plan was supported by 184 lawmakers on Wednesday.
She believes it will command more support after Friday’s vote on Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement.
Theresa May promised to resign if her Brexit deal passed – but after its defeat, calls for her to go are growing anyway.
“She’s used up all her political capital and it’s time for new leadership,” pro-Brexit Conservative MP Steve Baker told Sky News after the results were announced.
He called on May to work with her Cabinet on the process of her departure.
Politicians have reacted to May’s defeat by pushing their preferred paths out of the country’s Brexit impasse.
Conservative MP Nick Boles said a motion for a so-called “Common Market 2.0” has been tabled for Monday’s indicative votes, with cross-party support.
Calls for a second referendum, a general election and the revocation of Article 50 - stopping Brexit altogether - also grew.
Ian Blackford, the Westminster leader of the SNP, said Article 50 should be revoked, May should resign, and a general election should be called.
“We must give ourselves time and I suggest to her we now must look seriously at the option of revocation - we need to apply the handbrake to this process,” Blackford said. “The Prime Minister has indicated her departure. She should now go and we should be having a general election.”
London Mayor Sadiq Khan also called for Article 50 to be revoked. “Her deal is now dead. The PM must now do the right thing - immediately revoke Article 50 and give the British public the final say on Brexit,” he tweeted.
Vince Cable, the leader of anti-Brexit party the Liberal Democrats called for a second referendum.
DUP Westminster leader Nigel Dodds, meanwhile, suggested May should continue to tweak her deal and “sort out” the controversial Northern Irish backstop, which has led to the party opposing the deal.
“She knows (the backstop) remains the problem,” he said. “Please Prime Minister, even now, use the time constructively to get that matter sorted out.”
And some hardline Brexiteers expressed disappointment at a possible further extension to Brexit.
“Extension and further battles now seem inevitable,” Nigel Farage wrote on Twitter, adding that “we will fight them again” alongside pictures of today’s pro-Brexit protests.
The European Commission has put out a statement in response to Friday’s vote.
It warns that a no-deal Brexit is now a “likely scenario” and says such an outcome will be significantly worse than Britain leaving with the a Withdrawal Agreement.
European Council President Donald Tusk had earlier confirmed that an emergency summit of European leaders will take place on April 10, two days before Britain’s new exit date.
The British pound fell as much as 0.5% against the US dollar after parliament rejected the EU divorce deal negotiated by Prime Minister Theresa May for a third time.
The pound had been trading flat ahead of the vote, but it slipped below $1.30 after the measure was defeated by a margin of 58 votes.
The vote suggests the only Brexit deal negotiated with the European Union is now dead, leaving two ways forward: a no-deal Brexit on April 12 that could do serious harm to the UK economy, or a lengthy delay to Brexit while Britain figures out what it does next.
This post has been updated.
The crowds of pro-Brexit protesters are still growing outside the House of Commons, where news of a third heavy defeat for May’s deal has filtered through.
“I think it’s a scandal. We voted to have a referendum… leaves means leave,” one protester told CNN’s Matthew Chance.
Rejecting the prospect of a second referendum to find a way forward, he added: “It’s like a football game… when a team scores eight goals and another team scores nine goals, the team that scores nine goals is the winner.”
Protesters have also been seen in other parts of central London, while hundreds marched from Fulham, in the west of the city, towards Parliament earlier Friday.
That’s it from the House of Commons after a rare Friday sitting, lawmakers have left the chamber after crushing Theresa May’s Brexit deal for a third time.
But the fallout of Friday’s vote will continue throughout the afternoon and evening in London, where pro-Brexit protesters are gathering amid a heavy security presence.
Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn once again called for a general election after Theresa May’s Brexit deal was defeated for a third time.
He said that May must go “now” – not at an undetermined time in the future.
Lawmakers on Monday will take control of parliamentary time again, as part of the indicative votes process, and Corbyn said it is up to MPs to find a way forward.
“On Monday this House has the chance … the responsibility to find a majority for a better deal for all the people of this country,” he said.
Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, says he has called for an emergency summit after May’s deal suffered another loss.
286 MPs voted for the Withdrawal Agreement, while 344 voted against.
That means the bill is defeated by a majority of 58.
It had previously suffered losses by majorities of 230 and 149.
Prime Minister Theresa May has briefly addressed MPs after her Brexit plan suffered a third crushing loss, saying the consequences of the House’s vote were “grave.”
“The UK is due to leave the European Union on the 12th of April. That is in just 14 days times,” May says.
On Monday, the House of Commons will continue the process of seeking alternative Brexit options, she adds. But reiterates that the UK will have to take part in European elections if they seek a longer Brexit extension.
“I fear we are reaching the limits of this process in this House,” May says, adding that the government “will continue to press the case” for an orderly Brexit.
MPs have rejected Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement for the third time, plunging Brexit into further uncertainty.
A lengthy delay to Brexit is now possible, but Britain could also crash out of the EU with no deal on April 12.
As lawmakers debate Brexit inside the House of Commons, crowds of protesters are beginning to gather outside.
The pro-Brexit demonstrators are voicing their opposition to the prospect of a further delay to the process, amid a heavy police presence.
Police have just been seen leaving Downing Street with riot gear.
Other protesters have been walking towards Westminster from Fulham in west London, on the final day of a so-called “March to Leave” that started in northern England weeks ago. At least 500 walkers are taking part.
Others sang “Bye Bye, EU, Bye bye” to the tune of Auld Lang Syne, alongside chants of “leave means leave.”
Lawmakers are walking through the House of Commons’ voting lobbies, to cast their votes on the Brexit Withdrawal Bill.
The results will be announced shortly.
The UK Prime Minister confirms in public what she previously said in private to her party’s lawmakers – that, if her deal passes, she’ll stand down.
Theresa May is addressing the House of Commons, in a last-minute pitch to lawmakers to support her twice-defeated Withdrawal Agreement.
“Today should have been the day that the United Kingdom left the European Union. That we are not leaving today is a matter of deep personal regret to me,” she says.
May adds that seeking a further extension, which she would likely do if her deal is defeated, would mean a long delay to Brexit and would force the UK to take part in May’s European elections. Supporting the bill “avoids a cliff edge in two weeks time,” she adds.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has criticized Theresa May’s decision to hold a third vote on her Withdrawal Agreement.
“Today’s vote - third time lucky, the prime minister hopes - is an affront to democracy and an affront to this country,” he told the House of Commons.
Corbyn read out May’s previous insistence that the Withdrawal Agreement cannot be separated from the Political Declaration, which today’s vote does. “It’s not good enough. The two are linked,” he said.
“Labour will not vote for a blindfold Brexit,” Corbyn said. “The Labour Party will not play roulette with this country’s future – especially when the roulette wheel is rigged by the Conservative Party.”
Nobody I’ve met so far today in Doncaster – where seven in ten people voted to Leave the EU – wants Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal to pass.
Susan Horgan, a full-time carer aged 53, laughs at the very suggestion.
“What, the ‘meaningless’ vote?!” she asks. “What’s the point?”
“The Prime Minister is just wasting more time.”
This is stop number five on our tour of towns and cities that voted for Brexit and frustration with the process of exiting the EU is giving way to anger in Doncaster.
Ken Mannifield, a part-time farmer aged 71, says he has lost faith with all politicians, even those he usually supports.
“I’ve voted Labour all my life,” he tells me, “but I will never ever vote for them again. They have betrayed us over Brexit, they’ve stabbed us in the back.”
Doncaster has long been a Labour heartland.?Now, the party’s policy for a closer relationship with the EU has put it at odds with some of its traditional supporters.
Mannifield says he would now vote for UKIP, the UK Independence Party, which currently has no representatives in the House of Commons.
Retiree Pam Hughes agrees.?If there were an election today she says Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn wouldn’t be voted in.
“People will be screaming from their constituencies, saying we don’t want you any more,” she says of those MPs representing Leave voters, who haven’t delivered on voting for a hard Brexit.
And, asked what she will do if Brexit is revoked, or if a second referendum is granted?
“I would be more than willing to organize a mass rally.?I would revolt, as old as I am.”
Even Remain voters – by some distance the minority in Doncaster – are frustrated.
“At this stage we should just leave without a deal and start rebuilding Britain,” Maths teacher Carol Hatfield says.
She thinks the heart of the problem is the fact that politicians in Westminster want to stay in the EU, and simply aren’t representing the people who voted them in.
Whether the Prime Minister’s deal passes or fails, today will give us a sense of what happens next with Brexit.
It’s unlikely, however, to change the sentiment in Leave areas like Doncaster, where voters appear to be moving away from mainstream political parties as Westminster continues its political wrangling.
Anna Soubry, a former Conservative MP who quit the party over Brexit, has attacked some of her ex-colleagues for changing their minds on Theresa May’s Brexit deal to secure her exit as prime minister.
“Honorable members opposite have said that they’ll vote for the prime minster’s deal on the basis that the prime minster will stand down,” Soubry said in the House of Commons.
Soubry also praised the DUP for holding firm in their opposition to the deal. “I pay tribute to the DUP. As a grouping I have difficulties, as individuals I find most of them pleasant. But at least the right honorable members who sit here have been consistent,” she told the House.
Her sentiment has been echoed by several opposition MPs.
“We cannot allow the future of this country to be held to ransom by the never-ending internal Tory psychodrama and people who want to put their own jobs and ambitions before the jobs and ambitions of people in this country,” Labour’s Liz Kendall said during the debate.
Conservative MP Rebecca Pow has just spoken in the House of Commons in support of Theresa May’s deal, but it’s her pointed fashion choice that raised eyebrows.
Pow wore a unicorn pin on her jacket, a none-too-subtle statement apparently mocking opponents of May’s Withdrawal Agreement.
Hardline Brexiteers have frequently been accused of promising achievable aims, or “unicorns,” over Brexit.
The European Commission has confirmed the House of Commons passing the Withdrawal Agreement would be sufficient for the UK to leave the European Union with a deal.
“The Withdrawal Agreement negotiated between both parties is indeed both necessary and sufficient to ensure the orderly withdrawal of the UK,” Margaritis Schinas, European Commission chief spokesperson, said at a daily lunchtime briefing, Britain’s Press Association reports.
?“The Withdrawal Agreement, of course, has to be ratified by both parties in order to enter into force and the Withdrawal Agreement, in various parts, does take account of the orientations agreed by the EU and the United Kingdom for the future relationship,”
Schinas said the commission would be closely watching events unfold at Westminster on Friday and “we’ll take it from there.”
In a stunning move, former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab says he will support the Prime Minister’s Withdrawal Agreement in a fresh vote on Friday.
“I will vote for the motion. I will do so without prejudice … to achieve two essential outcomes: stave off a longer extension and prevent European elections in May. And I hope the government can more vigorously pursue the reassurance we need on the Withdrawal Agreement and the Political Declaration and make the deal more acceptable to this House.”
Raab resigned as Brexit Secretary back in November, saying at the time he could not “in good conscience support the terms proposed for our deal with the EU.”?
London’s Metropolitan Police are pulling in extra officers to assist with several planned protests due to take place on the day the UK was supposed to leave the European Union.
Westminster Council said it is aware of up to 13 separate scheduled protests for Friday and the Metropolitan Police said “appropriate policing plans are in place,” Britain’s Press Association reported.
Preparations are underway in the British capital with heavy-duty concrete blocks for barricades being brought in on trucks along Whitehall. CNN teams also saw an increased police presence with additional vans and officers wearing high-visibility jackets.
The Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader?Arlene Foster?has written an opinion piece in the Belfast Telegraph outlining why her party will vote against Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement on Friday.
She reiterates that she wants a deal that works for all and that the party “cannot vote for a deal, including a backstop arrangement, which could undermine the Union.”
Foster says the long-term consequences must be considered.
“This is about looking at the impact of placing a trade barrier between Northern Ireland and our biggest market in Great Britain. These decisions are weighty,” Foster writes.
She says European leaders – including Jean-Claude?Juncker, Michel Barnier and Leo Varadkar – have recognized that a hard border can be avoided, thus undermining the argument for a backstop in the first place.
“I hope in the coming days that we can reach an outcome which respects the referendum result and which protects the Union … We can, but it will require pragmatic minds in Dublin, Brussels and London,” she concludes.
The party’s Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson, repeats in the Commons that the DUP has not changed its position.
“We have sought to, over the last number of weeks, to work with the government, to try and find a way of either getting legal assurances or legislative changes to enable us to move this process on,” Wilson says.
“We want to see a deal. We want out of the European Union and we want to have a clear path as to how to do that. But it’s not been possible because the Withdrawal Agreement itself so ties the hands of this government that it is impossible to find a way of securing the kind of assurances which are required.”
Britain is getting a new political party opposed to Brexit.
The?Independent Group (TIG), a cross-party bloc of anti-Brexit MPs,?has formally applied to be registered as a fully-fledged political party. They will be called Change UK and have appointed the former Conservative MP Heidi Allen as interim leader.
The group was created in mid-February when seven lawmakers broke from the opposition Labour party over its handling of Brexit, the anti-Semitism scandal and Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. Another Labour MP and three former Conservatives, including Allen, later joined them.
There had been much speculation over who will lead the group. A former Labour MP, Chuka Umunna, had been widely tipped. “There is clearly an appetite for an alternative to our broken politics which needs fundamental change, as shown by the disastrous Brexit process which has occurred under the watch of the two main parties,” Umunna said in the statement.
TIG made the application to UK’s Electoral Commission – the country’s elections regulator –?in case it needs to field candidates in European parliamentary elections in May. That scenario would arise if Britain is forced to seek a long extension to the Brexit process?– a distinct possibility, if the House of Commons fails to agree Theresa May’s Brexit deal later today.
The Electoral Commission could not say how long it would take to process the application, but it “does take some time,” spokesman Karim Aziz said.
Ian Blackford, the Scottish National Party’s Westminster leader, is speaking in the debate now and he starts by expressing his disappointment that Theresa May has opted to leave the chamber.
He then launches into a furious diatribe on the Prime Minister “who has come to Parliament defeated and desperate.
He says May has failed to engage with opposition MPs and devolved administrations, and that the process “has always been her way or the highway.”
“The Prime Minister cannot draw her fractured party together. We in this House and the rest of United Kingdom will pay the price of that failure to seek a broader consensus,” Blackford continues. “It is time they were stopped.”?
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has reacted to Boris Johnson’s confirmation that he will back the UK Prime Minister’s Withdrawal Agreement in Parliament on Friday.
While Theresa May watches lawmakers wrestle once again with her Brexit divorce deal in Parliament, she’ll get a nice surprise on her return home…
A large purple bouquet has been sent to Number 10 with the delivery man telling waiting journalists they’re from “well-wishers, a support group from Jersey and the Channel Islands.”
In Brussels, the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier has been briefing diplomats on the situation in the UK. The EU’s assessment is stark, diplomats told CNN: It doesn’t think May will get her withdrawal agreement through the UK Parliament. Here’s what one diplomat said:
In that scenario, diplomats believe, Britain faces a choice: Leave without a deal, or request a long delay to Brexit.
In the event of a no-deal exit, the EU will demand strict terms for any negotiation on a future relationship between the two sides. And they look remarkably like the terms agreed by the EU and the UK in the Withdrawal Agreement.
This is what that means for the UK:
Those were the conditions laid down by the EU right at the start of negotiations two years ago, and form the basis of the agreement which has already been rejected twice in Westminster. Regardless of whether the UK leaves with a deal or not, it must sign up to the backstop and divorce deal anyway – that is, if it wants any sort of negotiated relationship with the EU.
Former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has tweeted that he has been and remains “intensely critical” of Theresa May’s deal and that “it is very painful to vote” for it.
“I have come to the sad conclusion that neither this government nor this parliament is willing to leave with no deal,” Johnson tweeted. “We therefore run the risk of being forced to accept an even worse version of Brexit or losing Brexit altogether.”
He added that it’s better if MPs have the chance of improving a “bad deal” in the next stage of negotiations, rather than those alternatives.
The Speaker of the House of Commons has opened the debate on the UK’s exit from the European Union, which will be voted on at 2:30 p.m. (10:30 a.m. ET) today. He added that he has not selected any amendments.
Attorney General Geoffrey Cox began by reiterating to Parliament that if MPs fail to approve Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement, the UK will leave the EU in 14 days.
“This is therefore the last opportunity to take advantage of our legal right,” Cox warned.
Protesters have begun gathering outside Parliament this morning, particularly Brexiteers.
Usually Remainer protesters gather this early, but a handful of people waving English flags and Union Flags have started yelling and chanting that they want their country back and that it’s time to deliver Brexit.
They’re calling Prime Minister Theresa May a “traitor” and holding signs that say MPs have “betrayed” the British public.
More protesters are expected to gather later today for various pro-Brexit rallies across the nation’s capital.
The March to Leave rally, which left the northeast of England about a fortnight ago, is due to arrive at Parliament around 4 p.m. after lawmakers vote on whether to back May’s Withdrawal Agreement. The group “Fishing for Leave” will also protest in Parliament Square at lunchtime alongside a 32ft fishing trawler on the back of a truck escorted by a pipe band.
The UK Independence Party (UKIP) will hold its own protest rally near Downing Street around 4:30 p.m., where far-right activist Tommy Robinson – whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – will be speaking on stage demanding MPs “make Brexit happen.”
The return of Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement has sparked some dramatic headlines from the British press.
“Darkest hour for democracy,” the Daily Express writes. It describes today as the day “Britain was to be freed from the shackles of the EU” and criticizes the British government for failing to honor the result of the Brexit referendum. “Our belief in the democratic process has been rocked to its core,” it adds. While The Daily Mail leads with the headline “One last chance,” and also describes 11 p.m. as the moment the UK was supposed to become “a proud sovereign nation once more.” It calls on lawmakers to back May’s deal: “Put your country first. Uphold democracy,” it adds.
While The Telegraph says May faces a “day of reckoning,” while The Times warns that Britain could face another year in the EU if lawmakers reject May’s deal today.
Take a look at them here:
It was supposed to be Brexit day. But instead, the government is holding a vote it knows it will probably lose and people, who have stated publicly that they hated Theresa May’s Brexit deal, are suddenly supporting it.
The official opposition, whose criteria the deal largely meets, says it will vote against it, and the Union that Brexiteers have sworn blind they want to protect looks like it might be crumbling.
The nation is still utterly divided. No one knows what happens next and no one is in control.
Welcome?to what might be the most absurd day in British history.?
Let’s take a moment and remind ourselves with what happens if Theresa May fails to find a majority in the House Friday for her withdrawal agreement.
According to European Council President Donald Tusk last Thursday:
Bottom line: If the deal isn’t passed, the UK still has until April 12 to present a way forward to the European Union. After that and provided the UK does not stand candidates in the European Parliamentary elections, it will crash out without a deal.
The UK government is bringing the Withdrawal Agreement back to Parliament for a third time on Friday. If the UK wants to secure a delay to Brexit until May 22, MPs must approve the deal.
However that’s easier said than done and despite the Prime Minister offering her resignation in order to get it over the line, she may still have insufficient votes.
Shortly after Friday’s motion was announced, the opposition Labour party confirmed it will once again vote against the agreement.
Labour’s Shadow Brexit Secretary,?Keir Starmer, said on Twitter: “What the Government is doing is not in the national interest and that’s why we will not support it tomorrow.”
And in another blow to May, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) also said it too would not back the agreement on Friday.
“We will be voting against the Withdrawal Agreement because our concerns remain. We will continue to do what we can to get the best deal for Northern Ireland,” the DUP’s Westminster leader Nigel Dodds said Thursday
May’s minority government depends on the DUP’s 10 Members of Parliament to keep it in power, and at least some Conservative hardline Brexiteers are expected to take their cue from the DUP on which way to vote on the deal.
Another day, another Brexit vote. And you’d be forgiven for your confusion if you thought a third “meaningful vote” on the government’s Brexit divorce deal had been ruled out by the Speaker of the House John Bercow, because it had.
What Bercow said: Citing a convention that dates back to 1604, the House Speaker ruled that the UK government was not allowed to repeatedly put a motion before lawmakers that had previously been rejected.
Right, so the deal needs to be different. Is it? Nope… But the government is getting around this by splitting up the deal. UK politics nerds will know that Section 13 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 requires both the Withdrawal Agreement and the Political Declaration to be approved in order for the treaty to be ratified. But Friday’s vote will only be on the Withdrawal Agreement.
And this was enough to satisfy Bercow? Pretty much. And as the leader of the House,?Andrea Leadsom,?pointed out on Friday, MPs need to approve the Withdrawal Agreement by 11:00 p.m. on Friday to qualify for the extension granted by the EU last week.
March 29 was originally meant to be the day the UK leaves the EU. But Friday will still be a Brexit day of sorts.
Friday sees a third attempt at getting the Prime Minister’s Withdrawal Agreement – which sets the divorce terms – through the House of Commons.
MPs will not be voting on the associated Political Declaration, which handles the future relationship between the UK and the bloc. Splitting the deal into a game of two halves has angered some lawmakers.
Debate?on the Withdrawal Agreement is expected to begin at 9:30 a.m. (5:30 a.m ET), with a vote expected to take place at 2:30pm (10:30 a.m ET), the House of Commons press office said Thursday.
Right, now that you’re back up to speed. Let’s kick off today’s Brexit madness.