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MPs have decisively rejected an attempt to secure a second referendum on Brexit, slashing chances of the UK seeing a People’s Vote in the near future, bookmakers said.

The House of Commons voted by 334 to 85 - a margin of 249 - against an amendment tabled by members of The Independent Group (TIG) of former Labour and Tory MPs, who quit their parties in part because of differences over EU withdrawal.

Bookmakers now place the odds of clinching a second referendum at 5/2, down from 6/4 at the start of this year.

As of 6pm, Paddy Power released new odds about the chances of a second referendum to take place by the end of 2019, saying it is "looking less and less likely".

Bookies said there was a 5/2 chance of this happening, with a 1/4 - around 80 per cent - chance of it not.

Odds at the start of the year for a referendum to take place by the end of 2019 were initially set at 6/4.

A spokesman for Paddy Power said: "Another day, yet another vote. The result of MP’s deciding against a second EU Referendum has seen our odds on another vote taking place this year drift out, and we expect this price to continue to rise now.”

Odds were also placed about what the result of a referendum would be, following the vote.

Paddy Power said the odds of the UK remaining in the European Union was 2/1 and leaving was 5/1.

Following the amendment’s defeat, MPs said the decision to press the referendum issue to a vote was opposed as premature by the People's Vote campaign, which said MPs should be focusing on the question of whether to seek a delay to Brexit.

MP for Ilford North Wes Streeting posted an open letter to Twitter explaining why he and many of his Labour colleagues in favour of a second referendum had abstained from voting.

The letter read: “We are all deeply committed to securing a People’s Vote. But to win that vote, we need to win a vote in the House of Commons.

“The best chance of that is via the so-called Kyle/Wilson amendment, which is being voted on today.

“The official People’s Vote campaign has said this isn’t the right time.”

The letter was met by some second referendum campaigners as a “risk” on social media.