"The largest defeat of the government since the 1920s": the British Parliament did not accept the Brexit agreement

The House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain rejected the draft exit from the European Union, proposed by the current Prime Minister Theresa May.

202 votes were given for the document, 432 votes against. The refusal of the parliament to adopt the document by a margin of 230 votes was the largest defeat of the British prime minister in the government over the past 95 years.

“Obviously, the parliament does not support the agreement. But from today's vote it is unclear what he supports. Not a word about how and whether it is planned to observe the decision of the British people at all at a referendum, ”said May in the first minutes after the announcement of the voting results. She added that in the current situation it is necessary to find out whether the parliament trusts the government.

Speaking after May, Labor leader Jeremy Corbin called the incident “the biggest defeat of the government since the 1920s,” and said that he had launched a voting procedure about a vote of no confidence in the government. It should take place on January 16th. According to Corbin, the vote "will allow the Chamber to present its verdict to the apparent incompetence of the current government."

According to The Guardian, representatives of the conservative party who supported the Brexit joined forces with the opposition and the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland to punish the government during the voting, which May suffered on the eve of the Catholic Christmas, hoping to get the votes of indecisive parliamentarians.

May also announced that by the following Monday, January 21, she will present a plan for further Brexit operations. The official date of commencement of the UK exit from the EU is set for March 29, 2019.

"Time is almost up"

Following the vote in the British Parliament, the first reaction of EU officials appeared, all of which chose the Twitter microblogging platform for publishing opinions. EU President Donald Tusk called on various parties to the Brexit discussion to give a clear answer about a possible resolution of the situation.

"If the adoption of the agreement turned out to be impossible, but no one wants (to leave. - RT) without an agreement, then who has the courage to finally say what the final decision will be?" Tusk wrote in his Twitter account.

It is a question of what’s a positive solution.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker also urged the UK to clarify its intentions as soon as possible after the failure of the vote on the transaction.

“I regret to take note of the results of the vote of the House of Commons this evening. I urge the UK to clarify its intentions as quickly as possible. The time is almost up, ”Juncker said in his Twitter.

In an official press release on the website of the European Commission, he added that, on the part of the EU, the ratification of the agreement on the withdrawal of Great Britain continues.

@HouseofCommons this evening. I urge the #UK to clarify my intentions as soon as possible. Time is almost up #Brexithttps: //t.co/SMmps5kexn

“The risk of an uncontrolled exit of Great Britain increased following the results of today's voting. Although we do not want such a development of events, the European Commission will continue extraordinary work to make sure that the EU is fully prepared, ”the statement on the EC website written by Juncker says.

In turn, the head of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, also wrote about the results of voting in the United Kingdom on Twitter.

“Brexit voting is bad news,” said Tayani in a microblog. He added that it is required to provide guarantees to 3.6 million EU citizens who live in the UK, as well as to the British who live in the EU countries.

Brexit vote is bad news. United Kingdom and Britons living elsewhere in the EU. They need assurances with regards to their future. We will always stand by their side.

Olaf Scholz, Vice-Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, called January 15 a "bitter day for Europe." “We are prepared, but the disordered Brexit is the least attractive scenario for the EU and the UK,” wrote Scholz on Twitter.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that his government “regrets the negative outcome of the vote” on the brexit deal. “The agreement is the best possible, and an unregulated exit would be negative for the EU and disastrous for the UK,” Sanchez writes on Twitter.

"We will not revise it"

On the eve of the deal, Theresa May’s deal was not supported in the House of Lords. For the document, there were twice as fewer peers than against.

“Result: 321 peer spoke in favor, 152 against Angela Smith’s proposal to reject the scenario of leaving the EU without a deal, and also to condemn the agreement approved by the government,” the upper chamber of the British parliament told Twitter.

Before this, a discussion about the May agreement on the EU’s exit took place in the House of Commons. Prime Minister confronted Labor leader Jeremy Corbin. May called on parliamentarians to support an agreement with the EU "for the sake of preserving the British people's faith in democratic institutions," Corbin insisted on early parliamentary elections. Prior to this, on December 18, he called for a vote of no confidence in the May government.

The Prime Minister herself has repeatedly stated that she considers her Brexit agreement "the best option." “The British do not want to spend more time arguing about Brexit. They want the correct execution of their will, ”she said on November 25 after agreeing the text of the document between London and Brussels.

She later spoke out against the new Brexit referendum, which was discussed by British politicians. May called for “not breaking the promise made to the British people.”

“The new vote will cause irreparable damage to the integrity of our policy, because it will show millions of those who believe in democracy that our democracy is not being implemented,” RIA Novosti quoted the prime minister.

The 585-page document agreed by London and Brussels regulates the process of leaving the UK from the EU. The agreement was made after lengthy negotiations, but several unpopular points remained. The European Union said that this version of the document is the last.

“We can add clarifications, but we will not revise it. The choice is this: accept or reject it, ”said Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the European Commission, on January 12.

“Very serious chances for a repeated referendum”

British parliamentarians opened the way to many scenarios, including the most “hard” exit from the EU and the abolition of Brexit as a whole, said Alexander Gusev, director of the Institute of Strategic Planning and Forecasting, chief researcher at the Institute of Sociology, Russian Academy of Sciences.

“I have long predicted that the forces that are now opposed to the exit of Britain from the European Union will gradually win. And the situation suggests that the situation is very turbulent now, and Brexit opponents have very serious chances for a second vote in the referendum. The opposition in the person of the Labor Party, of course, will now put pressure on the House of Commons very seriously and on the executive branch in order to stop this process, ”Gusev told RIA Novosti.

The expert recalled that until the planned UK release date - March 29, 2019 - very little time remains.

“Britain should, by March 29, suggest ways to secede from the EU, with all the ensuing consequences. There are several such ways, but I suppose that now the British are faced with a very difficult choice, and, most likely, the second referendum is inevitable, including because the past period has shown how great the costs are and how great the threats and challenges are, ”says Gusev .

The expert is confident that the consequences of Brexit voting will affect not only the political situation in Britain, but also the economy.

“Naturally, there is a big financial cost borne by London, and this also causes great concern. Such an event cannot but affect the change of the pound sterling rate, and of course, here we need to prepare both British and European business in order to level the consequences, ”the expert concluded.