Members of Parliament in the United Kingdom (UK) voted by 149 votes, 391 to 242, to defeat Prime Minister Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement.
The withdrawal deal is now considered to have been killed, though there are some suggestions from some in Parliament that she could return for a third time with the same deal in a week or so.
The defeat now means that Parliament will vote on whether to reject a no deal Brexit tomorrow and whether to extend Article 50 on Thursday, March 14.
No one knows now where the government will head now. Anne McElvoy of The Economist has suggested that Theresa May could well be a “zombie Prime Minister, but zombies can go on for a long time.”
There are many possible responses from May, including resigning, calling an election or coming back for a third vote on her deal. The uncertainty in the UK has ratcheted up another notch.
The Prime Minister announced after the vote on the deal that Conservative Party MPs will have a free vote on leaving the EU with no deal.
She added, “Let me be clear voting against leaving without a deal and for an extension [of Article 50] does not solve the problems we face. The EU will want to know what use this house will make of that extension, does it want to revoke Article 50? Does it want a second referendum? Or does it want to leave with a deal, but not this deal? These are the unenviable choices.”