Theresa May loses big over her Brexit deal
The British prime minister suffers a crushing parliamentary defeat
ON JANUARY 15th Britain’s prime minister, Theresa May, lost the parliamentary vote on her Brexit deal by the huge margin of 230 votes, the largest-ever defeat for a ruling party. Some 118 Tory MPs seem to have defied their party whip to oppose the deal, one of the biggest-ever such rebellions. Coming after five days of debate during which Tory backbenchers repeatedly said they would vote down the deal, the result was not a surprise. But the margin of defeat was. It leaves Mrs May with precious little time to decide what to do next.
Her first challenge will be easy enough: to defeat the no-confidence motion proposed by Jeremy Corbyn, the opposition Labour leader. Since no Tory or Northern Irish MPs want an early election, they will support the prime minister.
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