Brexit: MPs vote down all four Brexit options

As MPs vote down all options the PM prepares to link fourth vote on her deal with an election.

Theresa May leaves Downing Street. Picture: AFP.

Theresa May will chair a marathon cabinet meeting tomorrow to try to plan a way out of the continued Brexit paralysis, amid speculation she will bring her deal back for a fourth vote and make it a confidence issue.

MPs this morning failed once again to find a Brexit consensus, rejecting a fresh series of soft Brexit options, as well as a motion to revoke Brexit altogether.

The parliament is now stuck; rejecting a no deal Brexit, but unable to find any kind of Brexit deal in which to go back to the European Union.

The idea that Mrs May would try again with her thrice defeated withdrawal bill and link it with a snap general election is being seen as a nuclear option but there was increasing chatter around the possibility in Westminster this morning.

The Times reported that hard Brexiteers including the deputy chairman of the European Research Group suggested they would rather see the government collapse than pass the increasingly toxic deal.

“We are approaching the point where the stakes are now so very high and so transcend party politics,” Steve Baker said. “I think these things are coming on to the table.”

This morning’s votes come after MPs rejected eight alternative Brexit possibilities last week.

Conservative MP Nick Boles, who failed to get his Common Market 2.0 motion passed, dramatically resigned from the party immediately after the vote.

Mr Boles, who is facing de-selection in his local electorate said: “I have failed chiefly because my party refuses to compromise, I regret therefore to announce I can no longer sit for this party.’’

Four motions were defeated this morning, with the motion that Mrs May’s Brexit withdrawal bill be accompanied by a Customs Union lost by a narrow margin of three votes. Over 35 Tories voted for the customs union, while around 10 Labour MPs defied the Labour whip to vote against it.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the margin “was very small indeed” and demanded that “if it’s good enough for the Prime Minister to have three chances (at presenting her withdrawal agreement) then the House should consider again the options in a debate on Wednesday”.

Scottish nationalist leader Ian Blackford said the results had disrespected the wishes of the Scottish MPs - who largely voted to revoke Article 50 - that “the day is coming we will determine our own future and it will be as an independent country’’.

Guy Verhofstadt, the EU’s lead Brexit spokesman, said the result meant a no-deal Brexit was now “nearly inevitable.”

“On Wednesday the UK has a last chance to break the deadlock or face the abyss,” Mr Verhofstadt tweeted.

The House of Commons again votes against all options. A hard #Brexit becomes nearly inevitable. On Wednesday, the U.K. has a last chance to break the deadlock or face the abyss. https://t.co/iixDhr5t6N

— Guy Verhofstadt (@guyverhofstadt) April 1, 2019

Mrs May will now chair five hours of Cabinet meetings on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT)

to determine her next steps.

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay has indicated that the withdrawal agreement might be tabled for a fourth time.

But Tory Remainer Dominic Grieve said: “It is impossible to implement the outcome’’.

The European Union is stepping up its preparations for the no deal Brexit, which is the default legal position. This will be triggered if an alternative, chiefly involving a lengthy Brexit extension, is not agreed by April 12.

Overnight Downing Street advised that there was no intention to bring the Queen into the Brexit conundrum.

During a briefing, a spokesperson for Mrs May was asked if the Prime Minister could prorogue parliament to stop the UK leaving the EU on April 12 and he replied: “Parliament is continuing the process to see if there is a stable majority for a particular alternative version for our future relationship.

“We don’t have any intention of involving the Queen in the process.”

But Steve Baker, one of the fiercest Brexiteers, said: “Only one option remains with Brexit — prorogue parliament and allow us out of the EU with no-deal’’.

Mrs May will meet her Cabinet tomorrow and could decide whether to put any parliamentary consensus in a run-off with her withdrawal agreement; whether to ignore parliament’s wishes; or even whether to call a general election.

During the Brexit debate, a group of 12 climate change protestors stripped down to G-strings and superglued their hands to the security glass at the front of the public gallery overlooking the main floor of the House of Commons.

BREAKING: Extinction Rebellion activists strip off in House of Commons public gallery to call attention to the ‘elephant in the room’ — Climate and Ecological Crisis #ExtinctionRebellion #TellTheTruth @HouseofCommons pic.twitter.com/VO8l31XRne

— Extinction Rebellion 🐝⌛️🐝 (@ExtinctionR) April 1, 2019

It meant that the MPs had an unobstructed view of a row of near-bare bottoms for more than 15 minutes as police applied a spray to loosen the glue.

The protest attracted a quick flurry of quips, from “which one is the Norway model?’’, to “buttocks to Brexit’’, to “the cracks are showing in the debate’’.

But the protest has highlighted a security flaw in the otherwise tight security at Westminster.

Anti-Brexit activists demonstrate outside the House of Commons. Picture: AFP.

Results of the vote

Speaker of the House John Bercow selected four motions, ignoring a no-deal option and insisting that his “conscientious’’ choice was made to make progress.

(C) Customs Union: put forward by Ken Clarke; Lost 276 - 273, majority 3

(D) Common Market 2.0: (customs union and single market), put forward by Nick Boles; Lost 282 - 261, majority 21

(E) Confirmatory Public Vote: (referendum on any deal agreed by parliament), put forward by Peter Kyle and Phil Wilson; Lost 292 to 280, majority 12

(G) Revoke Article 50: put forward by Joanna Cherry; Lost 292 to 191, majority 101

Labour had whipped for all of the motions except Ms Cherry’s amendment, but Mrs May, facing a rebellion from within her split Cabinet, allowed a free vote.

Mr Clarke said it would be calamitous to collapse into a no deal Brexit if parliament could not decide on an alternative.

“A customs union sets a basic agenda to help to ensure the damaging consequences of leaving the EU are minimised,’’ he said.

“We would be leaving the political EU but staying in the common market.’’