Theresa May faces battle to cling on to power after MPs overwhelmingly reject Brexit deal

Theresa May is attempting to cling on to her job following a historic Commons defeat that saw MPs overwhelmingly reject her Brexit deal.

The Prime Minister faces a vote of no confidence today after her deal with the EU was thrown out by Parliament in a crushing defeat.

Just 202 MPs voted for the deal, while 432 voted against it – prompting Labour to launch a bid to oust the Government by tabling a no-confidence vote.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn insisted he was tabling the no confidence motion in the Government because Mrs May's 'catastrophic' Brexit defeat represented an 'absolutely decisive' verdict by MPs on the Prime Minister's handling of EU withdrawal.

But, Mr Corbyn's hopes of forcing an early general election were dampened as the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Westminster leader Nigel Dodds said his party would back Mrs May.

He told BBC2's Newsnight: 'We will be supporting the Government in the no confidence motion.

'What it really shows is when it comes to the crunch and the Government's survival is on the line the DUP will be able to keep the Government in power.'

Asked if Labour could win Wednesday's no confidence vote, shadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner told the BBC: 'I think the numbers are probably not there tomorrow. We will hope that we can.'

Mr Gardiner refused to be drawn on reports that up to 100 Labour MPs were set to call on Mr Corbyn to pivot towards a second Brexit referendum on Wednesday.

The scale of the 230-vote rejection of the Government's Brexit agenda saw Mrs May pledge to reach out to leading parliamentarians from across the Commons to try and find a way forward.

With the UK scheduled to exit the EU in just over 10 weeks' time on March 29, the Prime Minister has until next Monday to return to the Commons and present a 'Plan B' option.

After suffering the the biggest government defeat on a meaningful vote for at least a century, which saw 118 Tory MPs rebel, opponents of the PM's Brexit stance insisted Downing Street must now show real movement.

Calls for Article 50 to be extended, meaning the UK remains in the EU longer, also intensified among pro-Europeans.

Mrs May signalled she hoped to find 'genuinely negotiable' solutions that she can hammer out with Brussels after the defeat.

Labour MP David Lammy said that if Mrs May survives the vote of confidence, Mr Corbyn should come out in support of a second referendum.

He suggested that close to 100 Labour MPs were prepared to back such a move, telling BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'At that point he should then follow the overwhelming feeling of the party and party members, which is to arrive in a place where we put this back to the British people in a people's vote.

'If he vacillates and sits on the fence, I'm afraid he is going to get splinters in places he doesn't want.

'There is is definitely momentum with Members of Parliament who now see that this is stuck in our Parliament and think he should put it back to the British people.'

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said there had been no approach from Downing Street to Mr Corbyn to enter discussions on the way forward on Brexit.

After Number 10 made clear that Mrs May remained committed to securing an 'independent trade policy' after Britain leaves the EU, he warned she was in danger of 'negating' any talks before they started.

He told Today: 'She is now laying conditions down about those discussions which look as though they will prevent any discussion of a permanent customs union.

'That is what most of the other opposition parties support so she seems to be negating the discussions before they have even started.'

The EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said Brussels 'profoundly regrets' the Commons vote on the Withdrawal Agreement after two years of negotiation 'based on the red lines of the British Government'.

Speaking in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, he said the vote showed the 'political conditions' were not yet present in London to ratify the agreement.

'It is up to the British authorities today or tomorrow to assess the outcome of this vote and up to the British Government to indicate how we are going to take things forward on March 29 to an orderly withdrawal,' he said.

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, who had cancelled travel plans in order to be in Brussels for the aftermath of the vote on Wednesday, voiced 'regret' at the defeat of what he termed 'the best possible deal'.

He said the Commons vote 'increased the risk of a disorderly withdrawal' from the EU.

Mr Juncker said: 'I urge the United Kingdom to clarify its intentions as soon as possible.'

French president Emmanuel Macron made it clear a renegotiation of the Brexit deal was unlikely.

Speaking after the Commons vote, he said: 'I don't really believe in this, because we already went as far as we could.'

He told British leaders to 'Figure it out yourselves' as he wished them 'good luck' as he predicted that Britain would ask for more time to hold talks.

The comments came as it emerged Chancellor Philip Hammond and Business Secretary Greg Clark used a private telephone call to tell business chiefs not to expect changes to the legal Brexit withdrawal text, but rather to the political declaration on future relations with the EU, according to Government sources.

The Financial Times, meanwhile, reported Mr Hammond told those on the call the Government would not put any 'obstacles' in the way of a plan by Tory MP Nick Boles to give senior backbenchers a role in finding a solution to the deadlock.

'We have to reach out to MPs in the Commons first,' the Chancellor is reported to have said.

'There is a large majority in the Commons that is opposed to no-deal.'

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