Tusk’s statement seen as a potential opening for Brexit U Turn

Donald Tusk has made a thinly veiled call for the UK to stay in the European Union, suggesting the prime minister’s historic loss in parliament left a deal looking “impossible”.

As the scale of the defeat was announced, the president of the European council called for Theresa May to urgently clarify her next move.

The Guardian reports Brussels had expected the prime minister to lose the vote on the deal she had agreed with the EU, but the size of the majority – 230 votes – against it meant there was little hope of the agreement being salvaged.

EU officials predict the first step will be for MPs to tell May to request an extension of the two-year negotiating period, removing the cliff-edge of 29 March and setting off a debate among the other 27 member states on the terms of a prolongation.

Brussels has repeatedly insisted it will not renegotiate the 585-page withdrawal agreement and the political declaration on the future relationship.

Last month the EU27 rejected a 2021 target for completing trade talks, a request May believed could break the parliamentary deadlock.

Juncker reiterated in his statement that the deal was “a fair compromise and the best possible deal”.