General election a strong prospect as Theresa May’s Brexit deal defeated for third time

Cabinet minister tells The Independent Conservatives are ready to attack Labour for blocking Brexit in the coming campaign

Britain is veering towards a new general election after MPs voted down Theresa May’s Brexit deal for a third time on Friday.

She strongly hinted after the defeat that she will take the country to the polls if parliament does not pass a deal respecting the 2016 referendum result in the next 10 days.

Ministers told The Independent a new election was a clear possibility featuring in the prime minister’s thinking, with her likely to have one final attempt to push her deal through next week.

As thousands of pro-Brexit protesters shouted outside parliament, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Scottish nationalists, who form the third biggest group in the House of Commons, also called for an election.

It comes as MPs will once again take control of the chamber’s schedule on Monday to hold indicative votes to see if a soft-Brexit compromise can achieve a majority.

Ms May lost the third vote on her deal by 286 votes to 344 – a majority of 58 – after the government scheduled it on the date Britain had earmarked for Brexit day.

The result saw dozens of Tories finally fall into line and back the PM’s deal, but 34 still held out, as did the Northern Irish DUP and some Labour Leavers.

Asked whether an election was now becoming a clear possibility, one cabinet source told The Independent without hesitation: “Yes. Absolutely. No question.”

There had been speculation that the vote itself was set up for 29 March to make a show of Mr Corbyn’s party voting against Brexit ahead of a pending election campaign.

One cabinet minister later said: “We would throw at them the question of ‘what did your MP do on exit day?’

We would throw at them the question of ‘what did your MP do on exit day?’. This is going to be difficult for a lot of individual Labour MPs in Leave areas

Cabinet minister

“This is going to be difficult for a lot of individual Labour MPs in Leave areas.”

Speaking from the despatch box, the prime minister said “it should be a matter of profound regret” for every MP that the Commons had once again failed to approve Brexit.

In a hint that was widely interpreted as a tilt towards the ballot box, she said: “I fear we are reaching the limits of this process in this house.

“This house has rejected no deal. It has rejected no Brexit. On Wednesday it rejected all the variations of the deal on the table. And today it has rejected approving the withdrawal agreement alone and continuing a process on the future.

“This government will continue to press the case for the orderly Brexit that the result of the referendum demands.”

Her aides later repeatedly failed to explicitly deny that the prime minister had meant that she was now seriously considering an election.

Hitting back, Mr Corbyn argued that the Commons had given Ms May a clear message that her deal in its current form is unacceptable and it should be radically altered.

The Labour leader said: “If the prime minister can’t accept that then she must go – not at an indeterminate date in the future but now, so that we can decide the future of this country through a general election.”

The SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford also called for Brexit to be put back to the people, saying: “I think there has to be a general election.”

Speaking at an IndyMinds event in central London for subscribers of The Independent, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said he thought an election was likely.

He said: “There is the very real possibility of an early election. It doesn’t solve any problems but if you look back at historical precedent, when the constitutional system has collapsed, [an election is likely].”

Downing Street insiders said that while it was obviously disappointing the government had not won the vote on Friday, there was a clear movement towards the prime minister’s position.

In a key moment, ex-Brexit secretary Dominic Raab, seen as a strong future leadership contender from the Eurosceptic wing of the Tories, said he would now back the deal.

At least eight Labour MPs indicated publicly that they might back the deal if Ms May was prepared to give greater guarantees on workers’ rights and parliament’s ability to shape the future relations – something she pledged to do in the aftermath of the result.

On Monday MPs will again have the chance to vote on a range of Brexit alternatives after a previous process indicated a future arrangement relating to a customs union could carry a majority.

If MPs back one, Downing Street aides have said the Commons could be faced with a run-off between opting for Ms May’s deal or a customs union.

But the prime minister has strongly indicated that she could not countenance asking the EU for such an arrangement and could in that instance demand an election.

Equally, if MPs could find no other compromise but still refused her deal, then an election would become an equally likely prospect to break the Brexit impasse.