Theresa May survives no-confidence vote after Parliament rejects Brexit deal
UK Prime Minister Theresa May has seen off a bid to remove her government from power, winning a no confidence vote by 325 to 306.
Rebel Tory MPs and the DUP – who 24 hours earlier rejected the PM’s Brexit plan by a huge margin – voted to keep her in Downing Street.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn argued that Mrs May’s “zombie” administration had lost the right to govern.
Mrs May will be making a statement from Downing Street at around 2200 GMT.
The PM won the vote by a margin of 19, including 10 votes from the DUP. Had the party voted against her, she would have lost by one.
Giving her reaction to the result, Mrs May told MPs she would “continue to work to deliver on the solemn promise to the people of this country to deliver on the result of the referendum and leave the European Union”.
She invited leaders of all parties to have individual meetings with her on the way ahead for Brexit – starting tonight with offers made to the Westminster leaders of Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the SNP and Plaid Cymru – but called on them to approach them with a “constructive spirit”.
“We must find solutions that are negotiable and command sufficient support in this House,” she added.
But Mr Corbyn, who tabled the no confidence motion, said in the Commons that before any “positive discussions” could take place, the prime minister should rule out a no-deal Brexit.
“The government must remove clearly, once and for all, the prospect of the catastrophe of a no-deal exit from the EU and all the chaos that would come as a result of that,” he told MPs.
His spokesman later said that Downing Street had spoken to the Labour leader’s office before the vote about a prospective meeting, but that he was not expected to go to No 10 this evening.
The party’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, told BBC News that it was not “unreasonable” for Mr Corbyn to say: “Are you serious?”
He added: “We’re very amenable to talks, but I think the prime minister needs to show us that she’s actually serious about that.
“Is she actually going to concede on some of these red lines? Are they going to be meaningful to us?”
Mr Corbyn’s no confidence motion was backed by all the opposition parties, including the Scottish National Party and the Liberal Democrats.
His party has not ruled out tabling further no confidence motions – but Mr Corbyn is under pressure from dozens of his own MPs and other opposition parties to now get behind calls for a further EU referendum instead.
Source: BBC