Defeating the government, 328 MPs have voted to take control of the parliamentary agenda in a bid to stop a no-deal Brexit, while 301 voted against.
In response, Prime Minister Boris Johnson tabled a motion for early general elections.
“I don’t want an election but if MPs vote tomorrow to stop negotiations and to compel another pointless delay to Brexit potentially for years then that will be the only way to resolve this,” Johnson said immediately after the vote.
Johnson said he would on Tuesday take the first step towards asking lawmakers to approve an early election.
The victory is the first hurdle for lawmakers who will on Wednesday seek to pass a law forcing Johnson to ask the EU to delay Brexit until January 31 unless he has a deal approved by parliament beforehand on the terms of the exit.
A spokesman from Johnson’s office said the Tory MPs who voted in favour of the move to try and stop a no-deal Brexit will be expelled from the party. Prominent figures include Nicholas Soames, the grandson of Britain’s World War Two leader Winston Churchill, and two former finance ministers – Philip Hammond and Kenneth Clarke.
Sir Oliver Letwin said the motion was being put forth because the government had not put forward any new proposals on Brexit; it had shut down parliament; it would consider a no-deal Brexit, and that no-deal would be a serious threat to the UK.
Throughout the debate, Johnson’s opponents have argued that nothing can justify the risk of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit that would cut economic ties overnight with Britain’s biggest export market and inevitably bring huge economic disruption.
Johnson cast the challenge as an attempt to force Britain to surrender to the EU just as he hopes to secure concessions on the terms of the divorce, helped by the threat to walk out without one. Ahead of the vote, he said would never accept another delay to Brexit beyond October 31.
Johnson’s government will now seek to hold a vote on Wednesday to approve an early election, most likely to be held on October 14. An election would pit the avowed Brexiteer against Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Yet it was unclear whether opposition parties would support such a move – which requires the support of two-thirds of the 650-seat House of Commons.
After the vote, Corbyn told Johnson that he must get the Brexit delay bill that will be discussed on Wednesday passed before trying to call an election.
Johnson lost his majority in parliament on Tuesday when Dr Phillip Lee, the MP from Bracknell, defected to the Lib Dems.euronews