LONDON, March 28. /TASS/. British lawmakers rebuffed all eight alternative proposals on a deal with the European Union on Brexit conditions during the vote in the House of Commons on Wednesday evening.
The MPs voted against holding a referendum to endorse the results of Brexit talks, canceling Brexit, a no-deal Brexit, the United Kingdom’s accession in the European Free Trade Association and preserving membership in the European Economic Area, the country’s participation in the EU Customs Union as well as signing preferential trade agreements with the EU on the impossibility of striking the deal.
Besides, they rejected an alternative plan proposed by the Labour Party on keeping the country’s membership in the EU Customs Union and thoroughly coordinating British trade rules with the rules of the single European market.
The vote on various options of Brexit was aimed at establishing control over the entire Brexit process, taking it away from the government. The goal of the vote was to understand which of the options is likely to be backed by most lawmakers and to break the current deadlock.
Although neither option was approved, the gap between votes on two of them was little. A proposal of Conservative MP Kenneth Clarke, who demanded guarantees from the government that the UK will remain part of the EU Customs Union after Brexit, was backed by 264 lawmakers, while 272 voted against.
Some 268 MPs endorsed a proposal of Labour Party’s MP Margaret Beckett on holding a referendum on any agreement reached with Brussels, while 295 opposed this option, siding with the line of Theresa May’s government on this issue.
The House of Commons has twice rejected the deal on Brexit conditions on January 15 and on March 12. The heads of 27 states and governments unanimously agreed on March 21 to delay Brexit. The UK’s withdrawal from the EU will be postponed either until May 22 if the British parliament endorses by the end of March a Brexit deal with Brussels, or until April 12 in case the deal is not backed.
On Wednesday, UK Prime Minister Theresa May promised eurosceptics from the Conservative Party to step down shortly after Brexit if they supported a deal with the EU. Later 25 eurosceptics changed their position and are now determined to back the prime minister. However, this is not enough to endorse the deal in the parliament. Earlier, the government said it was considering an option of holding the vote on the Brexit deal on March 29, the day when Britain was originally due to leave the EU.
