May government faces no-confidence vote after Brexit defeat

LONDON — British Prime Minister Theresa May defied calls to resign as she faced a no-confidence vote Wednesday, a day after Parliament rejected her Brexit deal by a historic margin and unleashed a power struggle over control of Britain’s planned withdrawal from the European Union.

May was battling to save her job after staking her political reputation on winning support for the divorce agreement she has negotiated with the EU over the last two years. That it would lose was widely expected, but the scale of the rout — 432 votes to 202, the biggest defeat for a government in British parliamentary history — was devastating for May’s leadership and her Brexit deal.

Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn responded with a no-confidence motion, and urged the government to “do the right thing and resign.”

“If a government cannot get its legislation through Parliament, it must go to the country for a new mandate,” Corbyn said ahead of the vote, scheduled for 7 p.m. (1900GMT, 2 p.m. EST).

May, who leads a fractious government, a divided Parliament and a gridlocked Brexit process, said she would stay put. May said an election “would deepen division when we need unity, it would bring chaos when we need certainty, and it would bring delay when we need to move forward.”

The government is likely to survive Wednesday’s vote with support from May’s Conservative Party and its Northern Irish ally, the Democratic Unionist Party.

“I don’t think the people in this country would rejoice at the prospect tonight if a general election were to be called,” said Nigel Dodds, the DUP’s leader in Parliament.

If the government loses, it will have 14 days to overturn the result or face an early national election within weeks. Britain is due to leave the European Union on March 29.

Political analyst Anand Menon, from the research group U.K. in a Changing Europe, said May had a remarkable ability to soldier on.

“The thing about Theresa May is that nothing seems to faze her,” he said. “She just keeps on going.”

May’s determination — or, as her foes see it, her inflexibility — might not be an asset in a situation calling for a change of course. The prime minister has until Monday to come up with a new Brexit plan, and has promised to consult with senior lawmakers from across the political spectrum on her next moves.

But she also said any new Brexit plan must “deliver on the referendum result,” which May has long interpreted to mean ending the free movement of workers to Britain from the EU and leaving the EU’s single market and customs union.

Many lawmakers think a softer departure that retained single market or customs union membership is the only plan capable of winning a majority in Parliament. They fear the alternative is an abrupt “no-deal” withdrawal from the bloc, which businesses and economists fear would cause turmoil.

Corbyn said despite May’s claim that she would reach out to opposition parties, he had not received a call from her. Labour lawmaker Ben Bradshaw accused May of being “in a total state of denial” about how radically her Brexit plan needed to change.

Faced with the deadlock, lawmakers from all parties are trying to wrest control of the Brexit process so that Parliament can direct planning for Britain’s departure.

But with no clear majority in Parliament for any single alternative, there’s a growing chance that Britain may seek to postpone its departure date while politicians work on a new plan — or even hand the decision back to voters in a new referendum on Britain’s EU membership.

Pro-EU lawmaker Dominic Grieve introduced a bill Wednesday that aims to lay the groundwork for a second referendum, which he called “the only way out of the current crisis.”

European leaders are now preparing for the worst, although German Chancellor Angela Merkel said there was still time for further talks. She told reporters in Berlin that “we are now waiting to see what the British prime minister proposes.”

But her measured remarks contrasted with the blunt message from French President Emmanuel Macron, who told Britons to “figure it out yourselves.” He said Britain needed to get realistic about what was possible.

“Good luck to the representatives of the nation who have to implement something that doesn’t exist,” Macron said.

EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said the bloc was stepping up preparations for a disorderly “no-deal” Brexit after Parliament’s actions left Europe “fearing more than ever that there is a risk” of a cliff-edge departure.

Economists warn that an abrupt break with the EU could batter the British economy and bring chaos at borders, ports and airports. Business groups have expressed alarm at the prospect of a no-deal exit.

But investors appeared to shrug off the rejection of May’s deal. The pound was up 0.1 per cent at $1.2869 in early morning trading Wednesday in London, and the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 0.1 per cent at 6,888.

James Smith, an economist at ING, said the “calm market response” suggested investors think Britain will end up having to seek an extension to the Brexit timetable.

May’s deal was doomed by deep opposition from both sides of the divide over the U.K.’s place in Europe. Pro-Brexit lawmakers say the deal will leave Britain bound indefinitely to EU rules, while pro-EU politicians favour an even closer economic relationship with the bloc.

The most contentious section was an insurance policy known as the “backstop” designed to prevent the reintroduction of border controls between the U.K.’s Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, an EU member state. Assurances from EU leaders that the backstop is intended as a temporary measure of last resort failed to win over many British lawmakers.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said it was now up to opponents of the backstop “to come up with an alternative solution to honour their commitment to avoiding a hard border.”

Varadkar said if May’s government was willing to shift some of its “red lines” in negotiations — such as leaving the customs union and EU single market — then the position of EU negotiators would also change.

“The onus is on Westminster” to come up with solutions, Varadkar said.

___

Raf Casert in Strasbourg, France, Frank Jordans in Berlin, Sylvie Corbet in Paris and Pan Pylas in London, contributed.

___

Follow AP’s full coverage of Brexit at: https://www.apnews.com/Brexit

Danica Kirka And Jill Lawless, The Associated Press