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Theresa May Wins Vote Of Confidence In The House Of Commons

Theresa May Wins Vote Of Confidence In The House Of Commons

May will now present an alternative to her defeated Brexit deal in a matter of days.

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

Theresa May's government has survived a confidence vote in the House of Commons.

The government retained the support of 325 MPs, whereas 306 voted that they had no confidence in May's government.

This latest vote comes after May's Brexit deal for the UK's departure from the European Union was emphatically rejected in the House of Commons yesterday evening.

May's deal only had the support of 202 MPs. 432 members of the House of Commons voted against her Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.

Prime Minister Theresa May will be that relieved the Commons backed her.
PA

Immediately after the result of the vote was announced, May said that she would listen to a debate on whether she retained the confidence of the house today, Leader of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn duly obliged and tabled a motion of no confidence.

With a small Parliamentary majority - propped up by 10 MPs from her confidence and supply partners, Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party - it always looked likely that Mrs May would win the confidence vote.

A number of Tory MPs would have had to vote against her, as well as every other MP in the house, for Corbyn to get the result that he craved.

Labour have maintained that more confidence votes could be brought in future.

She must now return with a changed Brexit plan promptly.
PA

Corbyn has consistently called for a general election. Those calls intensified after May's loss yesterday, which was a record defeat for any government in the democratic era in Britain.

In the aftermath of that historic defeat, Corbyn said: "The prime minister has consistently claimed that her deal, which has been decisively rejected, was good for Britain workers and business... she should have nothing to fear by going to the people."

Because of an amendment put forward by Conservative MP Dominic Grieve, May must now present an alternative to her original agreement within a matter of days.

That leaves almost all options on the table still. A second referendum, a 'No Deal Brexit', and a postponement of the Brexit date - as it stands, 29 March 2019 - are all still possible outcomes.

Labour's Jeremy Corbyn tabled the motion, but was unsuccessful.
PA

However, with this victory, the Prime Minister will surely take heart from the fact that she still retains the overall confidence of the House and remain safe in the knowledge that those on her own benches who opposed her deal just hours before will still back her against attacks from the Labour Party and others across the divide.

Had she lost, that would have started a 14-day period in which her government, or another formed from within the house, would have had the opportunity to try to win the confidence of the House.

If no government could achieve that, then a general election would be held. With May's victory, she has staved off calls for her political head.

At least, for now.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: UK News, News, brexit, UK, Politics