LYNN DAVIDSONTHERESA May faced the darkest moment of her career after her Brexit deal suffered the worst defeat in British history on Tuesday.Here are the five main possibilities for what happens next, including a second vote on the PM’s Deal, No Deal, a second referendum, a Customs Union deal with Labour or the EEA option. The likeliest option if, as expected, Theresa May wins the no-confidence vote tabled by Labour.
Most Tory MPs opposed to her deal want her to get back to Brussels to win more concessions — despite the EU’s refusal to reopen talks.
One No 10 source previously said the vote would be put back to MPs 30 times until they voted it through.
Bookies have much higher odds of the PM getting her vote through on the second ask.
This was fuelled by Scottish secretary David Mundell saying MPs might reflect again on their “mistake” if they get a second chance to vote on the deal.
Mrs May said she would start cross-party talks with MPs after the confidence vote.
She said she would stay on and try to find “genuinely negotiable” solutions which she can take to Brussels.
The PM has until 21 January to set out a plan B, with the clock ticking on the scheduled date of Brexit in just 73 days’ time on 29 March.
European negotiator Michel Barnier said it was “time for the UK to tell us the next steps”.
EU president Jean-Claude Juncker has declared “time is almost up”.
REFERENDUM
Jeremy Corbyn was urged to back a people’s vote by the end of the week — as furious MPs demanded he “get off the fence”.
Sources claimed up to 100 of his MPs would today “pivot” to back a second referendum — and urged the Labour leader to back them.
Labour Remainer Chuka Umunna told The Sun that Corbyn had to stand by the party’s agreed policy, and support a second referendum “by the end of the week”.
Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer had earlier broken ranks and admitted a people’s vote “had to be discussed”.
Labour has so far committed only to consider a people’s vote as an “option” if the party cannot secure a general election through a no-confidence vote.
The move came as Ian Blackford, head of the SNP at Westminster, tore into Corbyn’s dithering over whether to back a new poll.
Speaking during the Brexit debate, he told MPs: “I’m appealing to the Labour party — for goodness sake, get off the fence.”
More than 50 MPs have publicly backed another Brexit vote, including former Tory ministers Justine Greening and Jo Johnson.
Tory MP Dominic Grieve also supports a re-run of the referendum.
CUSTOMS UNION
Europhile Tory MPs have urged Theresa May to try and build bridges with Labour MPs.
They were most recently joined by her cabinet Remainers Amber Rudd, David Gauke, David Lidington and Greg Clark.
The PM even put in calls to union bigwigs last week to try and get support for her deal.
But the danger lies in the fact that there are more Tory critics of her deal than Labour backers.
Membership of the Customs Union permanently is official Labour policy.
And it’s not remotely certain that Corbyn’s party would back the deal because their so-called six tests were always designed to be failed — and ultimately what the Labour leader wants is a general election.
EEA
Tory ex-ministers Nick Boles and Nicky Morgan and Labour’s Stephen Kinnock lead the “Norway Plus” movement, saying Britain should consider joining the European Economic Area.
