Brexit delay possible after MPs vote against leaving European Union without a deal

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

MPs have inflicted two more defeats on Theresa May, rejecting the idea of Britain leaving the EU without a deal and clearing the way for Brexit to be delayed.

After the prime minister’s deal was heavily voted down for a second time on Tuesday, she announced a government motion ruling out a no-deal Brexit on 29 March – overturning her longstanding policy of refusing to rule it out.

May promised MPs a free vote, but the motion was carefully worded, with the final sentence stating that, “leaving without a deal remains the default in UK and EU law unless this house and the EU ratify an agreement”.

Play Video 3:52 Theresa May says clear majority against no-deal Brexit – video

However, MPs voted by 312 to 308 to support a backbench amendment which struck out that last phrase so as to rule out a no-deal exit altogether.

In chaotic scenes, the government then rescinded its promise of a free vote; and whipped its MPs to vote against the amended motion.

Several cabinet ministers who have warned about the risks of a no-deal Brexit, including Philip Hammond and Amber Rudd, appeared to abstain, but the government still lost the vote, by 321 votes to 278 – a majority of 43.

The prime minister responded with a defiant statement, insisting a no-deal Brexit could only be avoided by agreeing a deal, or cancelling Brexit.

Profile Brexit no-deal vote: a brief timeline of chaos Show Hide 7pm Caroline Spelman declines to move her amendment aimed at taking a no-deal Brexit off the table for good - but Yvette Cooper, one of the other signatories, moves it instead. 7.16pm MPs back the amendment by 312 votes to 308, defeating the government. 7.21pm Word gets out that the government now plans to whip against its main no-deal motion because it has been amended to rule out no-deal in all circumstances. Rumours begin to fly of ministers being ready to resign to defy the whip. 7.33pm MPs reject the Malthouse compromise - an amendment in favour of a managed no-deal Brexit - by 374 votes to 164. 7.42pm Tory whips attempt to force MPs to vote against the amended motion they had effectively already backed. A number of cabinet ministers now reported to be abstaining. 7.49pm May is defeated again - with the margin of loss increasing from four to 43. 7.55pm May tells MPs that if they do not back a deal soon she will have to seek a long article 50 extension. 8.01pm Names emerge of government ministers - including Amber Rudd and David Gauke - who abstained on the vote, amid continuing rumours that they could be forced to resign. 8.09pm Sarah Newton, a junior pensions minister, resigns after defying the whip to vote against the government. Photograph: HO/AFP

She said she would bring forward a motion on Thursday on delaying Brexit which would “set out the fundamental choice facing this house”.

If MPs agreed a deal, she said the government would request a “short, technical extension” to article 50. Without an agreed deal, she said there would be a “much longer extension” that would require the UK to take part in European parliament elections, adding: “I do not think that would be the right outcome.”

The Labour MP Yvette Cooper moved the amendment, after its other signatories, the Conservative MP Caroline Spelman and Labour’s Jack Dromey, decided not to push it to a vote.

The vote does not definitively preclude a no-deal Brexit – MPs must still agree a deal, or extend or revoke article 50 in order to do that – but it underlined both the strength of feeling at Westminster and the government’s loss of control over the process.

Ex-remainer cabinet ministers, including Rudd and David Gauke, had urged colleagues not to press the amendment to a vote, arguing it would send a stronger message to achieve a clear majority on the government motion.

A second amendment, urging the government to pursue the “Malthouse compromise” – essentially a form of managed no deal – was heavily defeated, by a majority of 210, despite May offering a free vote.

Steve Baker, of the Brexit-backing European Research Group, claimed some cabinet ministers had supported the amemdment.

May made clear on Tuesday that MPs would have to decide how they wanted to use any extension; and several cabinet ministers, including Philip Hammond, have dropped heavy hints they would like to see the extra time used to identify a cross-party consensus.

Q&A Which Tory MPs defied the government on the no-deal Brexit vote? Show Hide 17 Tory MPs voted against the government

Guto Bebb

Kenneth Clarke

Justine Greening

Phillip Lee

Sarah Newton

Sir Nicholas Soames

Richard Benyon

Jonathan Djanogly

Dominic Grieve

Oliver Letwin

Mark Pawsey

Edward Vaizey

Nick Boles

George Freeman

Sam Gyimah

Paul Masterton

Antoinette Sandbach 30 Tory MPs abstained

Bim Afolami

Robert Buckland

Alistair Burt

Greg Clark

Alberto Costa

Stephen Crabb

Tobias Ellwood

Vicky Ford

Mike Freer

David Gauke

Richard Graham

Damian Green

Stephen Hammond

Richard Harrington

Oliver Head

Peter Heaton-Jones

Simon Hoare

Nigel Huddlestone

Margot James

Jo Johnson

Eleanor Laing

Jeremy Lefroy

Anne Milton

David Mundell

Claire Perry

Victoria Prentis

Amber Rudd

Keith Simpson

Caroline Spelman

Gary Streeter

At the end of his spring statement earlier on Wednesday, Hammond said: “Tonight we have a choice: we can remove the threat of an imminent no-deal exit hanging over our economy.

“Tomorrow, we will have the opportunity to start to map out a way forward towards building a consensus across this house for a deal we can collectively support to exit the EU in an orderly way.”

His comments followed May’s own remarks on Tuesday, after her Brexit deal went down to a second heavy defeat, by a majority of 149.

She said that if the UK requested an extension to article 50, “the EU will want to know what use we mean to make of such an extension. This house will have to answer that question.”