LONDON – British lawmakers rejected Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal for a third time on Friday, leaving Britain’s exit from the European Union in uncertainty.
The latest decision to reject May’s divorce deal has completely blurred the Brexit process as to how and when or even whether Britain will leave the EU or not.
In the fresh voting, lawmakers voted by 286 to 344 against May’s 585-page EU Withdrawal Agreement, making it clear that the premiership of Theresa May was in serious danger.
May had told lawmakers that the vote was the last opportunity to ensure Brexit execution and warned that if the deal failed, then any further delay to Brexit would probably be a long one beyond April 12.
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“There are those who will say: ‘The House has rejected every option so far, you’ll probably lose so why bother?’ I bother because this is the last opportunity to guarantee Brexit,” May told the House of Commons.
“If we do not vote for this motion today, people will ask: ‘Why did you not vote for Brexit?’”
It was the third failure for May, who had offered on Wednesday to step down from office if the deal passed, in an effort to garner the support of her Conservative Party as well as others.
The fresh defeat implies that Britain now has until April 12 to cajole the 27 capitals of the EU that it has an alternative path out of the deadlock, or see itself exit the bloc from that date with no deal on post-Brexit ties with its largest trading partner.
EU Summit
EU president Donald Tusk on Friday summoned leaders to an extraordinary summit on April 10, after British lawmakers again rejected the draft Brexit withdrawal deal they agreed with Britain.
“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,” tweeted Tusk, the head of the Council who coordinates summits.
Pound Nosedives
The pound fell Friday after Britain’s parliament again rejected a proposed deal to withdraw from the European Union.
Sterling had been mostly stronger against both the dollar and the euro in the runup to the vote, but then fell to its lowest point against the greenback in more than two weeks within moments of the count.
It then went on to recoup some of the losses towards the late afternoon, proving right analysts like ThinkMarkets’ Naeem Aslam who had predicted “crazy moves” in sterling before voting began.
“Sterling’s midday bounce felt a long way away on Friday afternoon, as MPs inflicted another embarrassment on a Theresa May premiership defined by them,” said Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell.
Lawmakers in parliament’s lower House of Commons defied May’s plea to end a political deadlock over Brexit, defeating her withdrawal agreement by 344 votes to 286.
“We thought it was going to be a lot closer,” Joshua Mahony told AFP on the IG trading floor in London. “Everyone is now starting to wonder exactly what happens next.”
