European elections 2019: When does the UK vote - and why are we even taking part? Brexit: What happens now? Media playback is unsupported on your device It was an evening of high-stakes and unprecedented drama that will have an impact far beyond the UK.
Brexit vote: What just happened and what comes next? Brexit vote: Donald Tusk hints UK should stay in EU. Image copyright Getty Images European Council President Donald Tusk has hinted that the UK should stay in the EU, after the prime minister's Brexit deal was rejected in parliament.
"If a deal is impossible, and no-one wants no deal, then who will finally have the courage to say what the only positive solution is? " he tweeted. MPs voted by 432 votes to 202 to reject the deal, which sets out the terms of Britain's exit from the EU on 29 March. Other EU officials and politicians reacted with dismay to the result. Image Copyright @eucopresident @eucopresident. Brexit: Theresa May's deal is voted down in historic Commons defeat. Media playback is unsupported on your device Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal has been rejected by 230 votes - the largest defeat for a sitting government in history.
MPs voted by 432 votes to 202 to reject the deal, which sets out the terms of Britain's exit from the EU on 29 March. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has now tabled a vote of no confidence in the government, which could trigger a general election. The confidence vote is expected to be held at about 1900 GMT on Wednesday. The defeat is a huge blow for Mrs May, who has spent more than two years hammering out a deal with the EU. Theresa May to face vote of no confidence from Tory MPs. Media playback is unsupported on your device UK Prime Minister Theresa May will face a vote of confidence in her leadership later on Wednesday.
Speaking outside 10 Downing Street, Mrs May said: "I will contest that vote with everything I have got. " She said a new prime minister would have to scrap or extend Article 50, the mechanism taking Britain out of the EU on 29 March, "delaying or even stopping Brexit". Conservative MPs will vote from 18:00 GMT to 20:00 GMT. A result is expected fairly quickly after the voting finishes. Conservative leadership: What are the rules for any challenge to Theresa May? - BBC News. Theresa May is fighting to stay on as prime minister after a no confidence vote among Conservative MPs was triggered.
How does the vote work and what could happen next? As leader of the Conservative Party, Theresa May depends on the continued support of her MPs. That has been formally called into question after some of them wrote letters saying they had no confidence in her. Under the party's rules, at least 15% of Tory MPs must write such a letter to make a leadership challenge possible. That mark - which translates as 48 MPs - has now been passed. The vote, which is a secret ballot, will be held between 18:00 and 20:00 on Wednesday. To win, Mrs May needs to secure 159 votes - half of her MPs, plus one.
But if she loses there will be a leadership contest and she will be barred from standing. There is a third option - Mrs May wins, but only by a few votes. Jeremy Corbyn calls for election if MPs vote down May's Brexit deal. Jeremy Corbyn has told Theresa May that Labour MPs will vote against her Chequers plan unless she is willing to accept his proposal to keep Britain in a customs union and protect consumer standards and workers’ rights after Brexit.
The conditional offer came near the end of an hour-long speech at the Labour party conference in Liverpool, in which Corbyn tried to position himself as sitting in the mainstream of British politics, three years after he took control of the party. Britain’s government slides into chaos - Strong and stable. Nservative leadership: What are the rules for any challenge to Theresa May? - BBC News. At-a-glance: The new UK Brexit plan agreed at Chequers. Image copyright PA.
At-a-glance: The new UK Brexit plan agreed at Chequers. What's the Brexiteers' alternative plan? Image copyright Getty Images As Westminster is settling down to the next phase of its collective mild nervous breakdown, the pushback to Brexiteers' criticism of Theresa May's Chequers plan is that the naysayers don't have their own.
It's not that far off from saying 'come and have a go if you think you're hard enough'! Or, in more polite terms, the kind that your parents might have advised, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. Those in government are deeply frustrated that they get knocked about by criticism from Brexiteers (and not just Boris Johnson, honest) who are right now engaged in an overt plan to kill off the prime minister's plan, based on months of work, but are yet to front up with their own proposal.
In the coming days, the Brexiteers, organised behind the scenes by that powerful grouping, the ERG, which regular readers here will be very familiar with, have a plan to counter that accusation. Image copyright PA. Brexit: EU sees 'positive elements' in UK's Chequers plan. Image copyright AFP/Getty The EU has cast doubt on claims its chief negotiator described the government's Brexit plan as "dead in the water".
Labour MP Stephen Kinnock attributed the remarks - which he said were in French - to Michel Barnier after a meeting in Brussels. EU Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas urged journalists to wait for a transcript to be published. The Chequers plan contains some "positive elements", he added. Brexit: Leave.EU fined £70,000 for breaking electoral law during referendum. Image copyright Reuters Campaign group Leave.EU has been fined £70,000 for breaches of election law in the 2016 EU referendum.
The Electoral Commission said the group - which was separate from the official pro-Brexit group Vote Leave - failed to report "at least" £77,380 it spent. It has also referred Leave.EU chief executive Liz Bilney to the police following its investigation into what it calls "serious offences". Leave.EU co-founder Arron Banks called it a "politically motivated attack". Responding to the Electoral Commission's findings, he said: "What a shambles, we will see them in court. " The investigation also looked into whether Leave.EU had received any services from Cambridge Analytica which should have been declared on its spending return but found no evidence that the group received donations or paid for services from the political consultancy.
Leave.EU's relationship with the controversial firm "did not develop beyond initial scoping work", according to the Commission.