British Parliament has voted to demand Prime Minister Theresa May reopen talks with Brussels over the Northern Ireland border, the key sticking point in the Brexit deal.
With exactly two months left until Britain is due by law to leave the EU, Parliament is trying to find a way forward by voting on different amendments, though none of the first five that were voted on were approved.
The so-called Brady amendment called for the backstop to be replaced with unspecified "alternative arrangements" to avoid a hard border in Ireland, and said Parliament would support Mrs May's Brexit deal if this change was made.
Before the vote, Mrs May asked the divided British Parliament to send a message to Brussels that politicians would support a negotiated EU withdrawal deal if a plan to avoid a hard border in Ireland was replaced.
She said it was a chance to, "tell Brussels that the current nature of the backstop is the key reason Parliament cannot support this deal".
She vowed to go to Brussels and seek "significant and legally binding change" to the backstop. Mrs May's office said that might include an end date to ensure it was temporary or an exit clause for Britain.
Both those ideas have been rejected by the EU, which insists the legally binding withdrawal agreement cannot be renegotiated.
The backstop would keep the UK in a customs union with the EU in order to remove the need for checks along the border between the UK's Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland after Britain leaves the bloc.
The border is crucial to the divorce deal because it will be the only land frontier between the UK and the EU after Brexit, and because the free flow of people and goods underpins both the local economy and Northern Ireland's peace process.
Opposition to the backstop by pro-Brexit politicians — who fear it will trap Britain in regulatory lockstep with the EU — helped sink Mrs May's deal on January 15, when Parliament rejected it in a 432 to 202 vote.
MPs reject 'no-deal' Brexit
British politicians voted in favour of a proposal calling on the Government to rule out leaving the European Union without a deal.
The 318 to 310 vote went against Mrs May, who said the only way to take a so-called "no-deal" Brexit off the table was to vote in favour of an agreement with the EU.
The Spelman amendment, "rejects the United Kingdom leaving the European Union without a Withdrawal Agreement and a Framework for the Future Relationship".
The amendment sends a signal that Parliament as a whole opposes leaving the EU without a negotiated agreement, which will happen by default if no alternative is agreed — but it does not compel the Government to prevent such a departure.
Much of the business world said a no-deal Brexit would cause economic chaos by eliminating existing EU trade agreements and imposing tariffs, customs checks and other barriers between the UK and the EU, its main export market.
Politicians voted against an amendment seeking to give Parliament the power to legislate a delay in Britain's departure if the Government failed to secure a deal in Brussels that Parliament could approve.
Mrs May's approach drew praise from Brexit-backing politicians but prompted scorn from their pro-EU colleagues.
Green Party legislator Caroline Lucas accused Mrs May of chasing, "heated-up fantasies that have already been rejected by the EU".
But the current votes will not mark the end of Britain's turmoil over Brexit. Mrs May said if she had not struck a new Brexit deal by February 13, Parliament would get to vote, again, on what should happen next.
EU leaders have repeatedly urged Britain to clarify what kind of Brexit it wants and are watching to see which proposals — if any — get the backing of the UK Parliament.
AP/Reuters
