UK MPs vote to delay Brexit
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC): MPs have voted by 413 to 202 – a majority of 211 – for Prime Minister Theresa May to ask the EU for a delay to Brexit.
It means the UK may not now leave on 29 March as previously planned.
Mrs May says Brexit could be delayed by three months, to 30 June, if MPs back her deal in a vote next week.
If they reject her deal again then she says she will seek a longer extension – but any delay has to be agreed by the 27 other EU member states.
Most Conservative MPs voted against delaying Brexit – including seven cabinet members – meaning Mrs May had to rely on Labour and other opposition votes to get it through.
But some Labour frontbenchers resigned to defy party orders to abstain on a vote on holding another referendum.
Shadow housing minister Yvonne Fovargue, shadow education minister Emma Lewell-Buck, shadow business minister Justin Madders, Ruth Smeeth, a shadow ministerial aide, and Labour whip Stephanie Peacock, all quit their roles to oppose one.
Theresa May, who has long insisted that the UK will leave the EU on 29 March with or without a withdrawal deal, voted to delay Brexit.
She had been forced to offer MPs a vote on delaying Brexit after they rejected her withdrawal agreement by a large margin, for a second time, and then voted to reject a no-deal Brexit.
She has warned that extending the departure date beyond three months could harm trust in democracy – and mean that the UK would have to take part in May’s European Parliament elections.
Downing Street said the government was still preparing for a no-deal Brexit.
Theresa May is planning to hold another “meaningful vote” on her withdrawal deal by Wednesday – after it was overwhelmingly rejected on two previous occasions.
If she wins that vote, she will ask for a one-off extension to Brexit get the necessary legislation through Parliament at an EU summit on Thursday – if not she could ask for a longer extension.
A spokesman for the European Commission said extending Article 50, the mechanism taking the UK out of the EU on 29 March, would need the “unanimous agreement” of all EU member states.
And it would be for the leaders of those states “to consider such a request, giving priority to the need to ensure the functioning of the EU institutions and taking into account the reasons for and duration of a possible extension”.
Copyright 2024 BVI News, Media Expressions Limited. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.
The UK is a royal mess; it voted by a slim margin (51.9%) to leave the EU, cutting off its nose to spite its face. It detested people from other EU countries coming into the UK; wonder what it thinks of OT citizens? Britain is an island and it is behaving like an island but it needs the EU and the EU knows it; it has a weak hand and is no longer the powerful Britannia. It reacted and now is struggling on how to leave the EU. PM Teresa May not really a proponent of Brexit is having a tough time getting an exit plan passed in Parliament. With all the struggles and uncertainty, it just needs a second bite of the apple (referendum).
Once again the people speak . And the elites ignore them. The EU is a mesd5 because unelected bureaucrats, elites, are running the country. A borderless mess . Where elites reign. Honor brexit!
4 percent is not a slim margin. Can you image if Remain had won and the British government had said “Thanks but were are leaving anyway”.?
A majority is a majority and if you don’t like it too bad. Sounds like the parliament there is simply not doing what it is told to do. They think they know better. It will get really nasty if they deny Brexit to the majority. There’s no need for another referendum when they haven’t yet implemented the first one!
Former PM David Cameron errored in setting the simple majority vote bar too low, thinking that the vote would have been to stay. For such a major decision, the vote to exit should have been between 60-70%. Cameron gamble and lost. Now the UK is in a royal mess. The UK is a parliamentary/representative democracy. Decision made to exit EU, many voters now have second thoughts/buyers remorse about leaving the EU, for they realized that the UK needs the EU. The turmoil in Parliament is reflective of the second thoughts of the electorate. Parliament do not want to crash out yet does not like the agreements PM May reached with the EU. If a majority of voters are having buyers remorse, why not let them vote again.
Hmm, you clearly do not understand the idea of a democratic vote. Beyond that it is the EU that needs the UK, it needs more members not less. It also needs the money to plug the holes in its unaudited accounts…
May’s ‘deal’ is not a deal, it is a Treaty which effectively keeps the UK shackled to the EU. The turmoil in the UK parliament is deliberately crafted by the elite political class to foil Brexit.
Avalon and TJ are absolutely correct.
Oh and Actually is absolutely on point also…
@Bossman, if the UK feels so shackled, why don’t it just crash out as planned on March 29. If the EU needs the UK more than UK needs the EU, why all the fuss about leaving the EU? Just leave! Xenophobia is going to strangle to the UK. When is it going to regularize the Windrush residents from the Caribbean? Its behaviour and attitude are truly islandish. Britannia colonized many countries in Africa, Caribbean, Far East, North America, Central America, South America….etc and exploited their resources to sustain its economy. Those days are long gone and it is still believing it is the straw that stirs the drink. Still think it is relevant.
51.9% of UK residents voted to split from the EU in 2016; 48.1% didn’t. What about the minority? Democracy is about both the minority and majority. Minority rights must be protected, ie, religion, national origin, sex, race, ethnicity, disability……etc. If another referendum were held today, wonder what the vote would be. IMO it would approx 30% voting to leave. It is an open secret that Brexit is a out migration and xenophobia. Bunch ah……
No surprise that there are zero comments, well until now…
Whether you are a advocate of DEMOCRACY or not, although recently many here seemed to be quite interested in the democratic process, you should I hope be interested in the idea of FREEDOM…
On Thursday (14th March 2019) 413 politicians and The Speaker of the House in London revealed themselves as ANTIDEMOCRATIC, voting to deny the people their democratic right and ultimately their freedom from the oppressor, the European Union.
Very few people here or even in Europe realise that the government in the UK (or the 27 other member states) are just Puppet Parliaments, serving the EU Superstate, an antidemocratic, bureaucratic leviathan with no care for DEMOCRACY, FREEDOM or the PEOPLE.
This marks a serious backwards step for the freedom of people worldwide. For the Weasel Politicians in London reading, you are guilty of TREACHERY and HIGH TREASON in contravention of the Magna Carta 1215.
In some countries the politicians would be looking at a revolt, a revolution, even possibly a military coup for what they are doing in London. The people need to march, join in solidarity with the French, start a ‘yellow jacket movement’ and protest!!!