Brexit Deal set to be defeated by 100 votes – The Telegraph
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Theresa May’s Cabinet is resigned to her Brexit deal being defeated by up to 100 votes next week after talks in Brussels collapsed without progress on Wednesday.
The Telegraph reports that Downing Street is already making plans for a third “meaningful vote” on the deal on the assumption that Tuesday’s vote is lost, and Mrs May is considering making a major speech on Friday to plead for support from MPs.
“One minister said it appeared “certain” that the Commons vote on the Brexit deal will be lost, and that Mrs May’s next move would depend on the scale of the defeat”, the report adds.
May has promised that MPs will be able to vote on whether to keep a no deal Brexit on the table on Wednesday, and will vote on whether to delay Brexit on Thursday. Number 10 has so far refused to say whether Tory MPs will be whipped to keep no deal or to block a Brexit delay, or even how the Prime Minister would herself vote.
On Wednesday night the House of Lords added to Mrs May’s problems by voting for a customs union with the EU, defeating the Government by 207 votes to 141 in an amendment to the Trade Bill.
It means Mrs May must now overturn the amendment in the Commons if she is to avoid being forced into a customs union against her will.
