For the second time MPs have failed to vote for an alternative option to Prime Minister Theresa May’s rejected Brexit agreement, keeping parliament in seemingly endless political deadlock. May is now set to convene her divided cabinet in a five hour session on Tuesday, to review all of the current routes out of the Brexit chaos.
On Monday evening, less than a week before the U.K. is scheduled to leave the European Union, MPs voted on four options including: a customs union, second referendum, canceling Brexit or a Norway-style deal.
None of the options received majority backing from U.K. lawmakers, though the proposal to establish a customs union with the EU lost by only three votes, and the move to a second referendum, by 12.
Due to the large number of abstentions on Monday night—ministers in May’s government were instructed not to vote—all options received fewer votes in favor than the rejected deal, even though that was most recently thrown out by 58 votes on Friday. There is now speculation that the prime minister might attempt to bring back her deal for a fourth time.
Conservative MP Nick Bole, who championed a Norway-style deal as one of the ”softer” Brexit alternatives, quit the party after a dramatic statement post-vote. “I have failed, chiefly because my party fails to compromise,” he said.
The pound slid sharply after the vote, down 0.5 percent at $1.3031 “as markets once again focused on the current default position, which remains no deal on April 12th under current legal statute”, said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets U.K.
After this indecisive session in parliament, May is set to convene her divided cabinet on Tuesday in a five-hour session to discuss what route, if any, can be taken to resolve the Brexit chaos. The alternatives are all still littered with problems, meaning that the U.K. continues to edge closer to dropping out EU with no-deal on April 12.
One of the options likely to be discussed is a general election, with May being urged by some advisers to consider this alternative rather than opting for a “softer” Brexit.
According to an adviser to the prime minister’s office, a snap election led by May was being “tested” and that it could be “the least worst option” for a few at the Downing Street office, the Guardian reported.
Over the weekend, Labour gained a slight lead in a public support poll commissioned by the Mail on Sunday, leading by 41% to 36%, after May’s deal was rejected for the third time amid a chaotic week in parliament.
Leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, told the Mirror that this party is “ready for a general election, whenever it comes. Labour has an alternative Brexit plan and we are ready to deliver it.”
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