Brexit vote latest: Amendment to stop no-deal Brexit in March fails to receive MPs' backing

As she tabled the amendment, Labour MP Yvette Cooper warned: 'I fear we will reach the brink'

A plan to prevent a no-deal Brexit in March by giving MPs the power to request an extension to Article 50 has failed to receive the backing of the Commons.

During a dramatic series of votes in the chamber, MPs voted down the amendment - tabled by Labour’s Yvette Cooper - by 321 to 298.

If passed, the amendment would have secured time for MPs to vote on a draft Bill that sought to hand parliament the power to request an extension of the Brexit negotiations if Theresa May failed to secure backing of her plans by 26 February.

Moving her amendment in the chamber on Tuesday, Ms Cooper said she did not think the prime minister was “instilling confidence” or that she had a plan, adding: “I am really worried that the delay and the drift and the chasing of unicorns means we could now end up with a no deal by accident.”

Unless Ms May changes direction and approach, the Labour MP added: “I fear we will reach the brink”.

Her amendment, she said, would have made “sure there is a safety net to prevent no deal on March 29th".

She added: "Now I've always believed that the Prime Minister would not let this happen, I always believed that she would flinch when it came to the crunch, that she is not the sort of person who would want to make other people suffer because of her delays and mistakes.

"But my worry is that when I look into her eyes now, I am worried that that has changed because she is trapped. Because every time the Prime Minister has had the chance to pull back and to reach out, she's done the opposite.

"Every time she's had the chance to think about the country she instead has turned to the party and every time when she has had the chance to build bridges, she's turned instead to the hardliners who simply want to set those bridges on fire."

Immediately after the defeat, Sterling fell 0.69 per cent against the euro to hit €1.1436 and fell 0.66 per cent against the dollar to hit $1.3076, according to Bloomberg.

Labour MP Chuka Umunna, who has campaigned for a s second referendum, called the defeat of the Cooper amendment as "a bad day for parliament",

Writing on Twitter, he said: "There is no point claiming you are opposed to a 'no deal' Brexit if you are not prepared to will the legal means to stop it happening.

"Non-binding motions are not the same as legally binding laws. The Cooper and Grieve amendments addressed this. A bad day for Parliament."

The defeat came after the House of Commons also rejected a bid by Jeremy Corbyn to force a debate on Labour's Brexit plans.

Mr Corbyn's call for more time to be given for MPs to consider alternatives to the Brexit deal was the first in a series of amendments put to a vote on Tuesday evening.