- Members of parliament were unable to agree on any of the four alternative Brexit plans brought before them
- The prime minister will have to consider offering her deal for the fourth time
Perhaps the biggest source of all the uncertainty surrounding the current Brexit situation is the fact that members of parliament cannot seem to unanimously agree on the options being presented.
Thrice, Prime Minister Theresa May’s proposals were rejected until the House decided to take over Brexit negotiations altogether but even then, a concrete agreement couldn’t be reached.
It seems the House is back to square one as four options were presented to the house to vote on as an alternative to the prime minister’s withdrawal agreement. However, it has been reported on April 1, 2019, that none of the four options was able to secure a majority, with a frustrated member of Parliament even resigning the whip.
What Happens Now?
Before the vote, there was hope that one of the deals would be able to secure a majority and would move the Brexit plans along considering the fact that the UK has a deadline of April 12 to agree on one.
Since that did not happen, the Prime Minister will likely hold meetings to decide whether to put forward another deal to parliament or not, despite facing rejection three times already or ask for another extension from the European Union.
The worst case scenario is that the European Union does not grant an extension and the UK is forced to go through with a no-deal Brexit despite the years of preparation time they had.
What Are the Options?
Last week, there were eight options presented to members of Parliament to vote on but none secured a majority. This week, four were offered but also none secured a majority.
The first was Motion C which would require the UK to negotiate a nationwide customs deal with the EU as part of Brexit requirements. This motion saw 276 votes against it and 273 votes for it.
The second was Motion D and would require the UK to join the European Free Trade Association and European Economic Area. It received 282 votes against it and 261 votes for it.
Motion E would have called for a public referendum and had the British public vote to approve any Brexit deal that parliament wanted to push through. It got 292 votes against it and 280 votes for it.
Finally, Motion G would have prevented the UK from leaving without a deal, going as far as canceling Brexit if a deal couldn’t be reached. This motion got 292 votes against it and 190 votes for it.
