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VALENTINE'S MAY MASSACRE
Theresa May humiliated as she loses ANOTHER Brexit vote after Tory MPs pull their support
THERESA May has once again been humiliated over Brexit after Tory MPs pulled their support for her plans.
The PM’s strategy was left in tatters on Valentine's Day after more than 50 Brexiteers refused to back a motion of support for her, leaving it to be defeated by 303 votes to 258.
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Furious Brexiteers said the motion would effectively rule out Britain leaving without a deal, and destroy our negotiating hand.
But she vowed to push on ahead with her Brexit plans anyway, insisting that fighting to rip up the hated Northern Irish backstop was the only thing Parliament had said they wanted her to do so far.
A Downing Street spokesperson blamed Jeremy Corbyn for "putting partisan considerations ahead of the national interest" and "voting to make No Deal more likely".
They also noted the "concerns" of Brexiteers who voted the motion down because they thought it would effectively take away the threat of leaving without a deal.
No10 added: "The motion on January 29 remains the only one the House of Commons has passed expressing what it does want – and that is legally binding changes to address concerns about the backstop.
"The Government will continue to pursue this with the EU to ensure we leave on time on March 29."
A total of 59 Brexit hardliners either abstained or voted against the motion after a meeting of the European Research Group headed by Jacob Rees-Mogg.
And another 10 Tory MPs who back a second referendum refused to back the Government.
The defeat represents the eighth time Mrs May has lost a Commons vote on Brexit and a fresh humiliation as she battles to save her deal.
Critics blasted the PM for not even turning up to see the result of the showdown.
NOTHING HAS CHANGED
Scottish Secretary David Mundell insisted the defeat was "not significant in the long term". He added: "The PM still has additional time to negotiate deal revisals Parliament said it needs."
He predicted the second meaningful vote would come before the end of February, when MPs will be presented with a stark choice between backing Mrs May's deal or crashing out of the EU without a deal.
As the PM still did not have a deal for MPs to vote on today she put down a supposedly neutral motion instead.
It said MPs "welcomed" the last set of votes in the House of Commons where they forced her to go back to Brussels, but also accepted that the House didn't want to leave without a deal - something Brexiteers said was ruling out a No Deal.
Steve Baker insisted the PM must now fully endorse the so-called "Malthouse compromise", an alternative plan thrashed out by MPs from across the spectrum, as the only way forward.
And Jacob Rees-Mogg added: "The message tonight is that there is a majority for the Malthouse compromise, but the Government needs to work with its backbenchers, rather than against them."
Jeremy Corbyn yet again put partisan considerations ahead of the national interest.
Downing Street spokesperson
Shortly after the result Jeremy Corbyn said the vote showed there was "no majority for the Prime Minister's course of action for dealing with Brexit".
And he blasted: "The Government cannot keep on ignoring Parliament and heading for March 29 without a coherent plan."
Remainer David Lammy stormed: "This is a Valentine’s Day massacre for the government and a damning indictment of the Prime Minister’s Brexit plan."
Tory Nick Boles said he hoped "the penny will now drop with Prime Minister and her Chief Whip that the hardliners in the ERG want a No Deal Brexit and will stop at nothing to get it."
Defence Minister Tobias Ellwood hit out at the Brexiteers in an extraordinary rant, saying:
"They caused this tonight and they are acting as a party within a party and that is frustrating.
"There is a deal to be decided, there is still work to be done, and yet tonight we see the ERG halting the Government, not supporting the Conservative Party. That is not necessary and it's also provocative."
The defeat is likely to damage Mrs May's confidence in talks with Brussels, as they will be sceptical as to whether she can secure a majority among her own MPs for any plan at all.
Steve Barclay revealed the PM will fly to Brussels next week for fresh talks with Jean Claude Juncker in a last ditch attempt to persuade them not to derail her plans.
And No10 insisted No Deal was still on the table - but the assurances weren't enough for dozens of members of of the European Research Group.
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What did MPs vote on today in the Commons?
SPEAKER Bercow picked three amendments to debate today - here they are.
MAY'S MOTION - (DEFEATED 303 to 258)
The PM's motion was supposed to be a neutral one as she didn't have a deal ready to put to a vote.
Instead she just said the House welcomed last week's votes - accepting Sir Graham Brady's change to go back to Brussels and ask for more, and a non-binding amendment to rule out a No Deal Brexit.
But it was slapped down when MPs said it would effectively rule out no deal, throwing a spanner in the works of the PM's plans.
CORBYN AMENDMENT - SPEED UP THE CLOCK (DEFEATED 322 to 306)
Labour frontbenchers have proposed an amendment aimed at stopping Theresa May from running down the clock on Brexit.
It would force the Government to act within two weeks, either by holding another formal vote on the PM's deal or by declaring that the deal is now off the table permanently.
SOUBRY AMENDMENT - COME CLEAN (PULLED AT THE LAST MINUTE)
Tory pro-EU rebel Anna Soubry has teamed up with other Remainers to try and force ministers to publish the advice they've had on a No Deal Brexit.
If their amendment passed, Mrs May would have to publish "the most recent official briefing document" presented to Cabinet on the implications of a No Deal scenario.
BLACKFORD AMENDMENT - WAIT TILL JUNE (DEFEATED 315 - 93)
Ian Blackford, the SNP's Westminster leader, is calling for a delay of at least three months to the Brexit process.
Mr Corbyn also faced embarrassment as 41 Labour MPs defied him to back a delay to Brexit.
Dozens of pro-EU backbenchers voted for an SNP amendment which would have postponed our exit by at least three months, despite being ordered not to by the leftie leader.
Rejecting the motion could also make the possibility of a soft Brexit more likely if the EU decide that there's more hope of passing the deal if Mrs May goes into serious talks with the Labour boss Jeremy Corbyn.
He's fighting for a customs union with the bloc but Mrs May has ruled it out, saying it won't deliver on Brexit properly.
She's still in talks with Mr Corbyn but doesn't want to risk splitting her own party if she goes for a compromise deal.
The PM is trying to get her deal through by changing the Northern Irish backstop, but she's facing a huge fight with the EU to get them to agree to legally binding changes.
MPs vote against Labour and SNP Brexit amendments to hold a new meaningful vote on EU deal and extend Article 50
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