The House of Commons has once again rejected the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.
The divorce deal was rejected by a majority of 344 to 286 this afternoon.
Immediately after the vote, the European Council President Donald Tusk said he had called a meeting of the council on April 10th.
In view of the rejection of the Withdrawal Agreement by the House of Commons, I have decided to call a European Council on 10 April. #Brexit
— Charles Michel (@eucopresident) March 29, 2019
The vote was held on the day the UK had planned to officially exit the EU.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May secured an extension to that process at the Summit of EU leaders in Brussels last week; however, the extension was granted on the basis that the deal would be passed in the House of Parliament.
It means that if she cannot get it passed in the coming days, she will be forced to return to Europe with an alternative plan before April 12th – or face crashing out without a deal on that date.
Any alternative plan will almost certainly require another extension - with the UK forced to take part in the upcoming European Parliamentary elections.
If she can somehow get the deal passed in the next two weeks, the official Brexit date will be moved to May 22nd.
President of the European Council Donald Tusk meeting Taoiseach and Leo Varadkar at Government Buildings in Dublin today. Photo: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ieNo deal
In a statement, the European Commission said it “regrets the negative vote in the House of Commons today.”
It said the UK now must propose a way forward to the European Council before April 12th.
“A ‘no-deal’ scenario on April 12th is now a likely scenario,” it said.
“The EU has been preparing for this since December 2017 and is now fully prepared for a 'no-deal' scenario at midnight on April 12th.
"The EU will remain united. The benefits of the Withdrawal Agreement, including a transition period, will in no circumstances be replicated in a “no-deal” scenario.
“Sectoral mini-deals are not an option.”
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar making a speech to delegates at a Fine Gael national conference in Wexford | Image: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ieRed lines
The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said it was now up to the UK to outline how it plans to avoid a no deal scenario.
“The European Council has agreed unanimously that the Withdrawal Agreement will not be re-opened,” he said.
“Ireland has been preparing intensively for a No Deal scenario – but no one should under-estimate the difficulties that a No Deal will present for all of us, including the UK.
“It is not clear that the UK has fully understood that No Deal is not off the agenda. Rather, it’s a growing possibility.”
He said European leaders should be open to longer extension of the withdrawal process if the UK indicates that it is willing to drop its red lines.
“I believe we must be open to a long extension should the United Kingdom decide to fundamentally reconsider its approach to Brexit and put back on the table options previously ruled out," he said.
“I believe that will result in a generous and understanding response from the 27.”
He said he will be meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel next week and noted that it is "now incumbent on the UK to chart a realistic way forward" for consideration at the European Council meeting.
A protester dressed as Charlie Chaplin seen smashing a TV screen with a hammer with Brexit written on it during a protest outside Westminster, 29-03-2019. Image: Dinendra Haria / SOPA Images/Sipa USAGrave implications
Speaking after the vote Mrs May said: “I think it should be matter of profound regret to every member of this house that once again we have been unable to support leaving the European Union in an orderly fashion.”
“The implications of the House’s decision are grave," she said.
“The legal default now is that the UK is due to leave the EU on the 12th of April in just 14 days time.
“That is not enough time to agree, legislate for and ratify a deal and yet the House has been clear that it will not permit leaving without a deal – and so we will have to agree an alternative way forward.”
Extension
She noted that the EU has made it clear that any further extension to the withdrawal process will “have to have a clear purpose and will have to be agreed unanimously by the heads of the other 27 member states ahead of the 12th of April.”
She noted that any further extension is “almost certain to involve the UK being required to hold European Parliamentary elections.”
Noting that the House will continue to vote on potential alternative ways forward on Monday, she warned, “I fear we are reaching the limits of this process in this House.”
“This house has rejected no deal, it has rejected no Brexit; on Wednesday it rejected all of the variations of the deal on the table and today it rejected approving the Withdrawal Agreement alone and continuing a process on the future,” she said.
“This Government will continue to press the case for the orderly Brexit that the result of the referendum demands.”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks in the House of Commons during a Brexit debate, 29-03-2019. Image: House of Commons/PA Wire/PA ImagesBrexit
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn noted that the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement has been rejected three times and asked Mrs May to clarify whether she now accepts that the deal is unacceptable to the House.
“On Monday, this House has the chance and, I say to all members the responsibility, to find a majority for a better deal for all the people of this country,” he said.
“The House has been clear. This deal now has to change. There has to be an alternative.”
Monday's debate comes after the House rejected all eight alternative proposals put to it in a series of 'indicative votes' aimed at finding a way forward that can command majority approval.
Two of those scenarios were narrowly rejected:
- The proposal for the UK to remain in a customs union with the EU.
- The proposal to offer the UK public a "confirmatory vote" on whether to accept the deal or remain in the EU.
The scenarios up for debate on Monday have yet to be revealed.
Nigel Dodds, deputy leader of the Democratic Unionist Party. Picture by: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire/PA ImagesBackstop
Today’s vote always seemed doomed to fail after the DUP, which props up Mrs May’s minority Government under a confidence and supply arrangement, announced that it would continue to oppose it.
A number of hard-line Brexiteers within the Conservative Party also refused to budge – despite Mrs May’s pledge that she would step aside if the deal was passed.
In a statement this afternoon, DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds called on the UK Government to return to Europe and seek concession on the Irish border backstop.
The EU has consistently made clear that Withdrawal Agreement, including the backstop, will not be renegotiated.
The agreement took the guts of two years to negotiate and was agreed by the UK Government and the 27 remaining member states.
Mr Dodds said the UK should “not simply to accept the position of the European Union as being unalterable.”
Meaningful vote 2.5
MPS were asked to vote on the deal for the third time on the day the UK had expected to officially exit the EU.
However, today’s vote was different to the first two in that it did not include the joint-political declaration on the UKs future relationship with Europe.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May opted to split the two elements of the deal – as House Speaker John Bercow had ruled that she could not ask the house to vote again unless what was on offer was “substantially” different.
Yesterday he agreed that the question was suitably different to allow the vote.
Ahead of the vote this afternoon, Mrs May warned her colleagues that they were faced with their last opportunity to guarantee Brexit.
