British Parliament rejected Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal for a second time on Tuesday. The first go around, it was defeated by historic proportions. But on Wednesday, lawmakers proved they are too nervous to exit the EU without some kind of agreement, voting 312 to 308 to reject a no-deal Brexit. Some hardliners were fine with plowing ahead, but others were concerned with how vulnerable a no-deal situation would leave Britain's economy.
May said she was opposed to leaving the European Union without a deal.
“The EU have made it clear there will be no transition period without a withdrawal agreement, and that includes what we have already negotiated on citizens’ rights, a financial settlement and a Northern Ireland protocol,” she reminded Parliament.
What does this mean? Well, at the moment, the UK is still scheduled to leave the EU on March 29. But, since Parliament has decided that they can't move forward without an agreement, they will vote for a postponement on Thursday. At the March 21 summit, the EU will vote on whether they'll allow for that short extension. Confused yet? The Guardian has a helpful graph detailing the timeline.
As you can imagine, tensions are high.
"This is a rudderless government," Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn barked at May Wednesday after her Brexit deal was defeated for the second time.
.@jeremycorbyn calls the government "rudderless" and asks the prime minister 'what her plan is now?'@theresa_may says she wants to "continue to work to leave the EU" and says the Labour leader has "nothing to offer".
— Sky News (@SkyNews) March 13, 2019
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He urged the PM to consider Labour's deal. But, as she noted, his plan is not so popular either.
"The deal that he’s proposing has been rejected several times by this house,” May noted.
Brexit has (literally) stolen May's voice from her, as you can hear in this video.