Brexit news: MPs reject every single indicative vote option as Theresa May vows to quit to get her deal passed
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Your support makes all the difference.MPs have failed to unite around any Brexit strategy after a series of indicative votes revealed no majority in the Commons for any plan.
Attempts to break the Brexit impasse floundered when MPs rejected eight different options, including a fresh referendum, a customs union and a no-deal exit.
In a dramatic day in Westminster, Theresa May told Tory MPs she will resign before the next phase of Brexit talks, in an attempt to secure support for her deal.
Addressing the 1922 committee of backbench Conservatives, the prime minister said she “would not remain in post for the next phase of the negotiations”, making way for a successor once her Brexit deal has passed.
Senior Brexiteers including Boris Johnson and Iain Duncan Smith signalled they would pivot to back the prime minister’s deal – but the DUP dealt Ms May a fresh blow by refusing to support her.
But it seems her offered sacrifice may have been in vain, as the Democratic Unionist Party announced it would not back a deal which “poses an unacceptable threat to the integrity of the United Kingdom”.
In a potentially fatal blow to Ms May’s chances, DUP leader Arlene Foster said the Northern Irish party “cannot sign up” to the deal because of its controversial “backstop” provisions.
Westminster leader Nigel Dodds made clear the party’s 10 MPs will vote against the deal if it is brought back for a third “meaningful vote”, declaring: “The DUP do not abstain on the Union.”
The decision leaves Ms May in need of the votes of large numbers of Labour MPs or rebel Tory Brexiteers, many of whom are expected to be strongly influenced by the DUP’s stance.
She has indicated she will only make a third attempt to pass the deal, following its overwhelming defeat by 230 votes in January and 149 in March, if she has a credible chance of success.
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Former attorney general and Tory MP Dominic Grieve has hit out at Conservatives who have suggested they could back Theresa May's Brexit deal and then "pick it apart" afterwards.
He said such a move would split the party, stating:
Do they really, seriously think that my party, who's already under a lot of strain and stress, is going to survive such a process?
Of course it isn't.
If genuinely they think that the solution is to sign-up, leave and then try to take the whole thing to pieces, I think we can guarantee, firstly, we are going to have a very long period of immense and sterile debate.
And certainly I think when it comes to that I can confidently predict my party would split."
Dominic Cummings, the former Vote Leave chief, has been found in contempt of parliament after refusing to give evidence to an inquiry that found “foreign influence and voter manipulation” in the Brexit vote.
Read our breaking story here:
The view from European Parliament's Brexit chief Guy Verhofstadt.
Another switcher to Theresa May's deal emerges. Brexiteer Robert Courts, who represents David Cameron's old constituency, has previously voted against the PM's deal.
It comes after Brexiteers Jacob Rees-Mogg and Boris Johnson appeared to be softening to the deal or risk no Brexit.
↵It's nearly time for PMQs - and here are the MPs with questions on the order paper.
Bad news for May - Brexiteers Andrew Bridgen and Anne-Marie Trevelyan are on the list, who will both back her deal when hell freezes over.
Theresa May is up. She starts by welcoming the US ambassador to watch PMQs and also confirms she will be holding a serious violence summit next Monday.
SNP's Stewart Hosie says Brexit is costing the UK around £1bn a week in lost week. He says May is liable, responsible and culpable for the chaos and asks when she will resign.
May says the Brexit deal delivers on the result of the referendum. She says he has a different view - he backs a second referendum.
Ardent Brexiteer Andrew Briden says May promised his constituents they would leave on March 29. They aren't stupid and they won't trust her again.
May says she can guarantee delivering on Brexit if he and others back her deal this week.
Jeremy Corbyn is up. He says you know its bad when the TUC and the CBI team up to express their horror.
He asks May what her plan B is?
May says she is working to deliver Brexit for the British people. She has a deal which meets their requirements. Other options don't do that and risk not delivering Brexit.
Corbyn says her deal has been rejected. He addresses reports that David Cameron is lobbying for a customs unions. Is May in agreement with Cameron - and will she back such a plan this afternoon?
May says she wants an independent trade policy - not a customs union. We want to negotiate our own trade rather than Brussels.
Corbyn says his position is for a customs union to protect jobs. CBI and TUC call for a customs unions as part of a deal.
It's a bit strange when a Tory PM says she does not want what the business community does, he says.
Why won't she support it?
May says he's not listening. He stood on a platform to pursue independent trade and deliver on Brexit - he's breaking both those promises.
What happened to straight talking honest politics?
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