British Prime Minister Theresa May‘s amended Brexit solution has crashed in Parliament, ensuring even more chaos before this month’s do-or-die deadline.
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May’s revised framework to removing Britain from the European Union was defeated this morning in the House of Commons 391 to 242 – a majority of 149.
That shellacking comes after her first attempt to win over Parliament tanked in January, and just a matter of days before March 29, the day on which Britain will fall out of the EU in a ‘no-deal’ scenario if no further action is taken.
Parliamentarians will face a vote tomorrow on whether they want to charge ahead with that ‘no-deal’ scenario, or if they want May to ask the EU for a formal extension on Article 50 – the official name for Britain’s decision to sever itself from the EU – so they can actually figure out how to proceed.
Brexit skeptics fear a ‘no-deal’ scenario would instantly leave Britain without a whole host of necessary systems to trade and deal with Europe, resulting in food and medicine shortages, airport chaos, immigration crises, and any other number of headaches.
The fear is real, but even May said the prospect of pushing back Article 50 and the March 29 deadline would not solve the issue if Parliament couldn’t actually agree on how to proceed with Brexit.
If you’re thinking that kind of governmental gridlock sounds like a potential general election trigger… Well, you’re not entirely wrong. Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn used the latest defeat to call May to hold an election, suggesting his Labour Party could navigate this mess in a better way.
The prospect of calling a second general referendum to cancel this whole Brexit mess – a solution which seems more and more sensible with each passing day – is still a way off, but we’ll have a better picture of the coming months after tomorrow’s vote.
For now, though: it’s cooked.
