Brexit ship sinks

British Prime Minister Theresa May received a crushing defeat in a historic vote on Tuesday over the Brexit deal she struck with the European Union, leaving the world’s fifth biggest economy in limbo.

202 MPs backed the prime minister’s deal, while 432 rejected it, handing May and her government the biggest defeat in the House of Commons for almost a century. Labour Party leader and head of the opposition in parliament Jeremy Corbyn immediately tabled a motion of no confidence in May’s government after the result, a motion which will be debated on Wednesday.

With just over two months to go until the scheduled Brexit date of March 29, Britain is still bitterly divided over how and even whether it should split away from the bloc’s other 27 nations. The only suspense before the vote was over the scale of May’s defeat.

The British leader’s last-minute appeals to MPs fell on deaf ears and the defeat now raises the question about whether she will try again, is removed from office, delays Brexit -- or if Brexit even happens at all. “You are not children in the playground, you are legislators,” Attorney General Geoffrey Cox, representing the government, told MPs just before the vote.