Brexit vote heading for big defeat

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May attends a reception at Buckingham Palace, London. Photo / AP

British Prime Minister Theresa May's Cabinet is resigned to her Brexit deal being defeated by up to 100 votes next week after talks in Brussels yesterday collapsed without
progress.

Downing Street is already making plans for a third "meaningful vote" on the deal on the assumption that Wednesday's vote is lost, and May is considering making a speech tomorrow to plead for support from MPs. One minister said it appeared "certain" that the Commons vote on the Brexit deal will be lost, and that May's next move would depend on the scale of the defeat.

May was defeated by a record majority of 230 when MPs voted on her Brexit deal in January, and her advisers believe that if she can limit the defeat in the next vote to a majority of fewer than 60 she would stand a chance of winning a third vote.

However, some ministers believe the margin of defeat will be as high as 100 votes, leaving the Prime Minister in "serious difficulty".

May has promised that MPs will be able to vote on whether to keep a no-deal Brexit on the table on Thursday, and will vote on whether to delay Brexit on Friday.

May opposes the idea of postponing Britain's EU exit.

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May attends a reception at Buckingham Palace, London. Photo / AP

The House of Lords added to May's problems yesterday by voting for a customs union with the EU, defeating the Government by 207 votes to 141 in an amendment to the Trade Bill.

It means May must now overturn the amendment in the Commons if she is to avoid being forced into a customs union against her will.

British businesses overwhelmingly oppose a no-deal exit, which would impose tariffs and other barriers between Britain and the EU, its biggest trading partner. It could also destabilise Northern Ireland's peace process, which has come to rely on free movement of people and goods across an open border.

British concerns over Brexit centre on a provision designed to keep the open border between Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland. The mechanism, known as the backstop, is a safeguard that would keep the UK in a customs union with the other 27 EU countries in order to remove the need for checks until a permanent new trading relationship is in place.

Brexit-supporting lawmakers in Britain fear the backstop could be used to bind Britain to EU regulations indefinitely, and May wants to revise the deal to reassure opponents that it would only apply temporarily.

High-stakes week

• Britain is due to leave the European Union on March 29.

• The British Parliament has so far rejected Theresa May's divorce deal.

• May is trying to renegotiate the deal with EU leaders and says Parliament will be able to vote on it for a second time by Wednesday.

• There is a possibility May will put it forward for a third vote.

• If it is rejected, lawmakers will vote on whether to leave the EU without an agreement or seek to delay Brexit.

- Telegraph Group Ltd, AP