British lawmakers on Thursday voted to overwhelmingly reject a government proposal seeking to hold a second referendum on Brexit.
Led by Independent Group lawmaker Sarah Wollaston, Amendment H would have instructed the government to request a delay to Brexit to allow time to hold a second referendum. But the lawmakers rejected the amandment by 334 to 85.
The vote came a day after parliament rejected Britain leaving the EU without a deal after chaotic scenes when May’s government struggled to exert any authority over her divided Conservative Party.
Lawmakers are voting on a technical change to add a time limit to Amendment I which seeks to pave the way for indicative votes in parliament on Brexit options.
AMENDMENT I: FIND ANOTHER WAY
Led by lawmaker Hilary Benn, a cross-party group have put forward a proposal which would take control of the parliamentary agenda on March 20 with the aim of forcing a discussion of Brexit options at a later date.
This process, which would overturn the usual rule that the government controls what is discussed in parliament, is aimed at trying to find a majority for an alternative Brexit path that would break the parliamentary deadlock.
AMENDMENT E: DIFFERENT APPROACH
Jeremy Corbyn’s opposition Labour Party has submitted an amendment calling for May to use a Brexit delay to give parliament time “to find a majority for a different approach”.
AMENDMENT J: NO MORE BREXIT VOTES
This amendment, submitted by Labour lawmaker Chris Bryant, seeks to prohibit the government from asking parliament to vote on May’s exit deal for a third time, citing parliamentary convention that the same question should not be asked of lawmakers more than once.
