How did St Albans and Harpenden MPs cast their votes on rejection of No Deal Brexit?

MPs all over the country faced a big decision yesterday, with the majority choosing to reject the possibility of a No Deal Brexit. But how did the St Albans and Harpenden MPs cast their votes?

On Tuesday, with just over two weeks to go until Britain is due to leave the single market, MPs voted by 149 votes not to accept Prime Minster Theresa May’s negotiated EU Withdrawal Agreement.

This is a smaller margin than the first Meaningful Vote in January, which crushed the plan by a record majority of 230.

Once again, St Albans MP Anne Main voted against and Hitchin and Harpenden MP Bim Afolami voted to support it.

Yesterday, MPs were asked whether the UK should leave the European Union with a No Deal - however, this motion was not legally binding.

Mrs May whipped Conservatives to vote against this motion as she wanted to keep a No Deal scenario on the table.

However, it was still passed - Mr Afolami was one of the MPs who defied party orders and did not take part.

He said: “I have been clear in the past that I could never support a No Deal Brexit. It would cause irreparable damage to our economy and was not what people voted for in the 2016 referendum.

“However the original government motion to rule out No Deal on March 29 was not made available for me to vote on.

“I voted against the Spelman amendment after Caroline Spelman herself withdrew it believing the government motion was more powerful. I agreed.

“As that amendment passed, the substantive motion became the only opportunity to prevent No Deal on 29 March. I could not in good conscience vote against that.

“It is clearer now then ever before that the only way to solve this issue is for Parliament to agree a deal. I backed the government deal [on Tuesday]. I will continue to work towards getting a sensible deal agreed so that we can leave the EU in an orderly manner.”

Mrs Main voted against the motion. She did not reply to requests for comment.

She supported the Brexit campaign during the 2016 referendum, in which St Albans district bucked the trend, swinging 37.3 per cent Leave to 62.7 per cent Remain.

Today Parliament will vote on whether to ask the EU for an extension to Article 50.</s>LONDON (AP) — After months of Brexit deadlock were broken by a flurry of last-minute diplomacy, it's finally decision day for Prime Minister Theresa May's EU divorce deal.

With Britain scheduled to leave the European Union in less than three weeks, U.K. lawmakers are poised to choose the country's immediate direction from among three starkly different choices: deal, no deal or delay.

A look at what might happen:

The House of Commons is set to vote Tuesday evening on a deal laying out the terms of Britain's orderly departure from the EU. Prime Minister Theresa May and EU officials agreed to the agreement in December, but U.K. lawmakers voted 432-202 in January to reject it. To get it approved by March 29, the day set for Brexit, May needs to persuade 116 of them to change their minds.

That is looking unlikely.

Opposition to the deal in Parliament centers on a section that is designed to ensure there are no customs checks or border posts between EU member Ireland and the U.K.'s Northern Ireland. Pro-Brexit lawmakers dislike that the border "backstop" keeps the U.K. entwined with EU trade rules.

May and the EU agreed last-minute changes assuring Britain that the backstop will only be temporary. But British Attorney General Geoffrey Cox said the changes reduced the risk Britain could be trapped inside EU regulations — but didn't eliminate it.

If, against the odds, lawmakers approve the deal, a short delay to Brexit may be needed so Parliament can translate the agreement's terms into British law. But the U.K. would be on course to leave the EU in the next few months, with a long transition period built in to help people and businesses get used to the new relationship.

May will have delivered on her promise of an orderly Brexit — and snatched an astonishing political victory from the jaws of widely predicted defeat.

If the deal is rejected, lawmakers expect to vote Wednesday on whether to abandon efforts to secure an agreement and leave the EU as planned on March 29 without a deal.

That idea is backed by a phalanx of pro-Brexit politicians, who say it would cut Britain free of EU rules and red tape, allowing the country to forge an independent global trade policy.

But economists and businesses fear a so-called "no-deal Brexit" would hammer the economy as tariffs and other trade barriers go up between Britain and the EU, its biggest trading partner.

In the short term, there could be gridlock at British ports and shortages of fresh produce. In the long run, the government says a no-deal scenario would leave the economy 6 percent to 9 percent smaller over 15 years than remaining in the EU.

Last month, Parliament passed a non-binding amendment ruling out a "no-deal" Brexit, so lawmakers are unlikely to go with it now.

If lawmakers reject leaving the EU without an agreement, they have one choice left: seek more time. A third vote tentatively scheduled for Thursday would decide whether to ask the EU to delay Britain's departure by up to three months.

This is likely to pass, since politicians on both sides of the debate fear time is running out to secure an orderly Brexit by March 29.

An extension requires approval from all 27 remaining EU member countries. They will probably agree, possibly at a March 21-22 summit in Brussels. But they are reluctant to grant a delay that stretches past elections for the EU's legislature, the European Parliament, in late May.

Whatever the U.K. Parliament decides, this week will not bring an end to Britain's Brexit crisis. Both lawmakers and the public remain split between backers of a clean break from the EU and those who favor continuing a close relationship — either through a post-Brexit trade deal or by reversing the decision to leave.

May is unwilling to abandon her hard-won Brexit agreement and might try to put it to Parliament a third time, especially if she loses by a small margin on Tuesday. But some lawmakers want her to have Parliament consider different forms of Brexit to see if there is a majority for any course of action.

Some think the only way forward is a snap election that could rearrange the forces in Parliament and break the political deadlock. May has ruled that out, but could come to see it as her only option.

And anti-Brexit campaigners haven't abandoned efforts to secure a new referendum on whether to remain in the EU. The government opposes the idea, which at the moment also lacks majority support in Parliament.

But that could change if the political paralysis drags on. The Labour Party has said it would support a second referendum if other options were exhausted.

It all means more twists are coming in the Brexit drama.

"No one really believes this is the last chance saloon," said Oliver Patel, a research associate at the European Institute at University College London.</s>(Bloomberg) -- Today in Brexit: Parliament is set to confront the threat of a no-deal Brexit after Theresa May’s revamped plan was left in tatters by another crushing defeat.

Theresa May’s new Brexit deal lasted less than 24 hours before it was roundly rejected by Parliament, throwing the U.K. into yet another crisis and blowing the whole divorce process wide open.

The prime minister’s freshly minted agreement was defeated by 391 votes to 242 in another bruising loss last night. While the margin was less than the record 230-vote rout she suffered in January, it still left May’s job, which she has clung to through one crisis after another, in greater peril than ever.

The future of Brexit is equally uncertain, a point illustrated by the myriad of potential outcomes laid out by the Eurasia Group on Tuesday. The group said that a softer exit — with closer ties to the European Union — was now its base-case scenario, giving it a 40 percent probability. But it also saw between a 10 percent and 20 percent chance of either May’s agreement eventually passing, a no-deal outcome, fresh general elections or even a second vote on Brexit itself. Tellingly, the prime minister, who had warned that voting down her plan could imperil Brexit in any form, included a second referendum among the choices Parliament may face in coming months when she spoke to the House of Commons after her defeat.

With less than three weeks until the U.K. is due to leave, members of Parliament are expected to vote today on whether to take a no-deal divorce off the table — even though that in itself doesn’t guarantee a chaotic departure can be avoided. May is expected to argue against leaving without an agreement. But in an effort to avoid a total split in her party, the prime minister said she’ll offer a free vote, meaning the government will not whip Conservative lawmakers to take a particular side. If politicians vote for a no-deal, May says this will become the government’s official policy, even though numerous ministers have said they will resign in protest.

Assuming the no-deal exit fails, MPs will probably then vote on Thursday to postpone Brexit — an outcome that could provoke furious Brexiteers to quit May’s administration. Still, as Bloomberg’s Tim Ross, Robert Hutton and Kitty Donaldson report, May’s loss on Tuesday left even Attorney General Geoffrey Cox, whose damning assessment of the new terms of the so-called Irish backstop played a large part in killing off the latest proposal, saying that an extension to the U.K.’s departure date beyond March 29 was "inevitable.”

A delay would require the unanimous consent of all 27 EU leaders. Even if that is granted, there’s a risk it will only postpone the drama for another few months while extending the uncertainty that’s taking its toll on the economy. That meant, while many of Wednesday’s newspapers focused on May’s failure, some were particularly damning about the actions of Parliament itself.

After the vote, an exhausted May, voice rendered almost inaudible by a sore throat, summed up the uncertainty ahead, stressing that merely delaying an inevitable decision cannot be an end in itself. “Voting against leaving without a deal and for an extension does not solve the problems we face,” the prime minister said.
• The U.K. won’t apply tariffs on most goods imported into the country in the event of a no-deal Brexit, the government said on Wednesday.
• It’s time for MPs to take control of the Brexit process, according to the Financial Times editorial board. Meanwhile, in separate columns in the Telegraph, Allison Pearson and Philip Johnston both call on May to go.
• If you didn’t keep up with every twist and turn yesterday, you can catch up with our comprehensive update of the day’s developments, or relive the climatic vote in parliament through our play-by-play blog.

EU’s View | A spokesman for EU President Donald Tusk said Tuesday’s result increases the risk of the U.K. crashing out of the bloc without a deal. He said the body will consider any request from the government to delay Brexit day but there needs to be a “credible justification for a possible extension and its duration.”

Business Boils Over | U.K. business groups, which have been growing increasingly exasperated with the Brexit process, delved deeper into their thesauruses yesterday. Carolyn Fairbairn, director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, declared “enough is enough — this must be the last day of failed politics,” while Adam Marshall, her counterpart at the British Chambers of Commerce, said that crashing out of the EU “would take political negligence to new extremes.”

On the Markets | The pound had another whirlwind day on Tuesday, first tumbling after Cox delivered his ruling, and then swinging wildly against the dollar after the vote result was announced. Meanwhile, some hedge funds are warning that investors are too complacent about the risk of a no-deal departure.

Hammond’s Sideshow | Amid the Brexit drama, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond is also due to deliver his spring statement to Parliament on Wednesday. He’s likely to emphasize the risks of a no-deal split by confirming that as much as 5 billion pounds ($6.6 billion) more in state funds could be released for spending if a divorce accord is struck.

French Pay Rise | Brexit chaos is benefiting at least one group of workers: French customs officers. The nation’s finance ministry said Tuesday that it is putting 14 million euros ($15.8 million) on the table to boost salaries after a week of industrial action gave a taste of what’s to come in a post-Brexit world.

Mind Your Language | As tensions rose yesterday, lawmakers’ language turned unparliamentary. When Channel Four’s Jon Snow cited sources as saying Geoffrey Cox had been ordered to find a way to approve the changes to the divorce agreement with the EU, the AG, who is usually known for his mellifluous use of Shakespeare, replied using a British epithet that colloquially means “nonsense.” Meanwhile, in Parliament itself, Conservative MP Steve Double called May’s deal “the best turd on offer."

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To contact the author of this story: David Goodman in London at dgoodman28@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anne Swardson at aswardson@bloomberg.net, Jones Hayden</s>MPs will vote on whether to leave the EU without a deal on Wednesday after comprehensively rejecting the PM’s withdrawal agreement on Tuesday night.

With just 17 days left until Britain leaves the EU, May’s Brexit plans were ripped to shreds by MPs who voted down her deal despite her “legally binding changes” to the contentious Irish backstop.

May faced calls to resign as PM in the wake of the colossal defeat, thought to be the fourth largest in UK political history.

Her Brexit Secretary, Steve Barclay, has this morning defended her as the chances of Britain leaving the EU on the terms she agreed appear to be fading from view.

“I think it’s most important that she does carry on … I think for a long time,” Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay told the BBC.

“She is acting in the national interest, and what is clear, is that people want us to get on with this.”</s>Germany welcomed Wednesday the results of the UK Parliament's vote against a no-deal Brexit but urged British lawmakers to clarify intentions as soon as possible.

"London just sent a sign of reason. The House of Commons has made it clear that, in its majority, at least it does not want a no-deal Brexit,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Twitter. He underlined a no-deal scenario would have been in nobody's interest.

"It is now up to the British to say what they want, in order to make a successful conclusion of a Brexit deal possible. Time is running out,” he said.

The House of Commons on Wednesday approved an amended government motion ruling out a no-deal Brexit under any circumstances. The motion was voted and approved by a 321-278 vote with reports that some Cabinet ministers abstained. The House of Commons will vote whether to seek a delay to Britain’s departure from the bloc Thursday.

Prior to Wednesday's vote, the UK was set to leave the EU on March 29.</s>Britain’s Parliament voted to avoid an economically disastrous no-deal split from the European Union, opening the door to delaying Brexit and radically re-writing the terms of the divorce.

The House of Commons voted 321 to 278 to reject leaving the EU with no deal and is now expected to seek to delay Brexit in the hope of securing a better deal, which markets would welcome.

Speaking in the Commons, May said Parliament must now face up to the consequences of its decisions. She announced that if a deal can be agreed to in the coming days, she would ask the EU for a short “technical” extension to the March 29 exit day deadline. If there’s no deal, the delay will be much longer, she said.

It is almost three years since Britain voted to cancel its 40-year membership of the EU and with just 16 days to go until exit day, Theresa May’s government has failed to get an agreement that can win the support of Parliament.

The prime minister’s preferred deal, which took two years to negotiate, was resoundingly rejected by the Commons for the second time in a vote on Tuesday night. Now, MPs have decided to avoid leaving the bloc without a deal.

The question is, what kind of deal will Parliament vote for, and how much longer do Britain’s politicians need to make up their minds?

On Wednesday, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, warned that postponing Brexit won’t be straightforward.

“It could be a tactical, a political prolongation,” Barnier told Euronews TV. “In that case, I know the answers and the reaction of the EU side, the EU leaders, the EU Parliament: ‘What for? Why do you need a prolongation? Is it for organizing a new referendum, new elections or not?”’</s>LONDON (Reuters) - The future of Britain’s exit from the European Union hung in the balance on Tuesday as lawmakers prepared to vote on a divorce deal after Prime Minister Theresa May won last-minute assurances from the European Union.

Scrambling to plot an orderly path out of the Brexit maze just days before the United Kingdom is due to leave, May rushed to Strasbourg on Monday to agree ‘legally binding’ assurances with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

British lawmakers, who on Jan. 15 voted 432-202 against her deal, were on Tuesday studying the assurances with lawyers. The government’s top lawyer, Geoffrey Cox, is due to give his opinion on Tuesday ahead of the vote due around 1900 GMT.

“We have secured legal changes,” May said in a late night news conference in Strasbourg beside Juncker, 17 days before the United Kingdom is due to leave the EU on March 29.

May said the assurances created an arbitration channel for any disputes on the backstop, “entrenches in legally-binding form” existing commitments that it will be temporary and binds the UK and EU to starting work on replacing the backstop with other arrangements by December 2020.

After two-and-a-half years of haggling since the 2016 Brexit referendum, Juncker cautioned this was the last chance for Britain. “It is this deal or Brexit might not happen at all,” he said.

Sterling rose 1.5 percent against the dollar and to a near two-year high against the euro.

If lawmakers vote down May’s deal, she has promised a vote on Wednesday on whether to leave without a deal and, if they reject that, then a vote on whether to ask for a limited delay to Brexit.

The United Kingdom’s labyrinthine crisis over EU membership is approaching its finale with an array of possible outcomes, including a delay, a last-minute deal, a no-deal Brexit, a snap election or even another referendum.

Brexit will pitch the world’s fifth largest economy into the unknown and many fear it will divide the West as it grapples with both the unconventional U.S. presidency of Donald Trump and growing assertiveness from Russia and China.

Supporters of Brexit say while the divorce might bring some short-term instability, in the longer term it will allow the United Kingdom to thrive and also enable deeper EU integration without such a powerful reluctant member.

Brexit-supporting lawmakers in May’s party had accused her of botching the negotiations with Brussels. Many Brexiteers fear the backstop, aimed at avoiding controls on the border between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland, could trap the United Kingdom in the EU’s orbit indefinitely.

May announced three documents - a joint instrument, a joint statement and a unilateral declaration - which she said were aimed at addressing the Irish backstop, the most contentious part of the divorce deal she agreed with the EU in November.

Former Brexit Secretary David Davis welcomed the requirement to make alternative arrangements for the backstop, the date and the international arbitration.

“All those things together, make this just about, just about acceptable to me but it depends very, very heavily on a robust, clear response from (Attorney General Geoffrey) Cox,” Davis told Talk Radio. “If Geoffrey Cox is at all equivocal about it then I think it will fall again.”

The immediate reaction was cautious from Brexit-supporting lawmakers and from the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) which props up May’s minority government.

“We will be taking appropriate advice, scrutinising the text line by line and forming our own judgement,” a DUP spokesman said.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, leader of a faction in May’s Conservative Party demanding a clean break from the EU, also said he was waiting for legal advice. “This has been desperately rushed,” he told the BBC. “I think it would be better to have the vote tomorrow when people had more mature consideration.”

The motion put forward by the government said the joint instrument “reduces the risk” that the United Kingdom would be trapped in the backstop.

If the backstop comes into force and talks on the future relationship break down, May said the unilateral declaration she announced would make clear there was nothing to stop London from moving to leave the backstop.

Former Attorney General Dominic Grieve, an opponent of Brexit, said the changes to May’s deal did not make a material difference.</s>“If this deal is not passed, then Brexit could be lost,” May said.

But prominent Brexit supporters whose support May needs were unconvinced. Hard-core Brexit supporters in May’s Conservative Party and the prime minister’s allies in Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party both said they could not support the deal, which Parliament rejected by an overwhelming margin in January.

The DUP, which props up May’s minority government, said “sufficient progress has not been achieved” on the key issue of the Irish border.

The European Research Group of pro-Brexit Conservatives, which has dozens of lawmakers as members, said the amendments “do not deliver ‘legally binding changes'” to the withdrawal agreement, as the government promised.

“In light of our own legal analysis and others, we do not recommend accepting the government’s motion today,” group member Bill Cash said.

At a late-night news conference Monday in Strasbourg, France, May and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker announced changes designed to overcome lawmakers’ concerns about provisions designed to ensure the border between EU member Ireland and Britain’s Northern Ireland remains open after Brexit.

The mechanism, known as the backstop, is a safeguard that would keep the U.K. in a customs union with the EU until a permanent new trading relationship is in place. Brexit supporters in Britain fear the backstop could be used to bind the country to EU regulations indefinitely.

May said documents to be added to the deal provided “legally binding” assurances that the backstop would be temporary and that Britain would have a way to get out of it if the EU failed to negotiate in good faith. However, the text of the 585-page withdrawal agreement remained unchanged.

May hoped the changes would be enough to overturn the 230-vote margin of defeat for the deal in January.

But her hopes were dashed when Attorney General Geoffrey Cox said the changes “reduce the risk” Britain could be trapped inside EU regulations — but do not eliminate it. The two-page opinion said the U.K. could still not extract itself from the terms of the divorce deal unilaterally, a key demand of pro-Brexit British politicians.

In a written legal opinion , Cox said that if U.K.-EU negotiations became stalled through “intractable differences,” Britain would have “no internationally lawful means of exiting the Protocol’s arrangements, save by agreement.”

John Whittingdale, a Brexit-supporting Conservative lawmaker, said the attorney general’s advice was “pretty terminal” for May’s plan.

The main opposition Labour Party also said it would reject the deal.

“In terms of the substance, literally nothing has changed,” Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said.

The pound, which had risen on hopes the deal would be passed, slumped by more than 1 percent against the dollar after Cox’s assessment, to trade at $1.3108.

Other EU nations had urged British politicians to seize the chance to back the deal and ensure an orderly departure.

German EU affairs minister Michael Roth, called it “a far-reaching compromise.” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte tweeted that he was “pleased with the agreement,” adding: “An orderly #Brexit is crucial for both the EU and the UK. There is no alternative.”

The EU warned British politicians that negotiations will not be reopened if Parliament rejects the deal again.

“In politics, sometimes you get a second chance. It is what you do with this second chance that counts. Because there will be no third chance,” Juncker said.

Britain’s political impasse over Brexit has raised fears of a chaotic “no-deal” Brexit that could mean major disruption for businesses and people in the U.K. and the 27 remaining EU countries, with tariffs and border checks imposed on trade between the two.

Lawmakers are now due to vote in the next two days on whether to leave the EU without an agreement — an idea likely to be rejected — or to ask the EU to delay Brexit.

Delaying Brexit would need the approval from all 27 remaining EU countries. They are likely to agree, as long as Britain leaves before elections to the European parliament in late May.

Some British lawmakers had warned their Brexit-backing colleagues that rejecting the deal could lead to Britain’s departure being postponed indefinitely, because a delay would give momentum to opponents of Brexit.

“Today is our Hotel California moment. If we don’t check out tonight, we may never leave,” tweeted Conservative legislator Bob Seely.

More than two and a half years after the country voted to leave the EU — and with no certainty about when or how it will — many Britons are simply fed up.

In the staunchly pro-Brexit port of Dover in southern England, retiree Mary Simpson said she felt that her voice as a “leave” voter had not been heard.

“I am actually considering never voting again, quite honestly, because I am beginning to feel that there is no point in it,” she said.</s>It is alarming just how seriously our MPs are treating a no-deal Brexit with Theresa May allowing Conservative MPs a free vote on the subject.

It is extraordinary – even in our current turbulent times – that today the UK’s democratically elected representatives will consider throwing the country’s economy off Brexit’s now proverbial cliff.

Have MPs ever before given such serious consideration to such a foolish act?

But – following the second landslide defeat of Theresa May’s Brexit plan in the second “meaningful” vote in the Commons, which presumably now does actually mean that her deal is dead – the Commons will today vote on whether the UK should leave the EU without a deal in 16 days’ time.

Remember, no less an expert on the British economy than Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England, has warned that a no-deal could be as bad as the 2008 financial crash; the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has warned the UK could suffer a recession so bad that it would damage the European and global economy; and one of the Government’s own briefing papers warned it could result in economic “Armageddon”.

READ MORE: Brexit: Blackford says SNP ‘won’t be fooled’ into backing May’s deal

Current Cabinet minister Michael Gove once infamously quipped that Britain had had enough of such “experts” weighing in on Brexit. Surely Britain has now had enough of the fools in the Commons who are seriously contemplating no-deal.

It may seem unlikely that MPs will back that, but the level of support is still high enough for Theresa May to feel the need to give her MPs a free vote.

That the Government of the UK has refused to demand loyalty on an issue of such vital importance to the country, to the livelihoods of all its citizens, is an abrogation of leadership and a dereliction of duty.

However, assuming common sense still commands a majority in the Commons, MPs will then hold a vote tomorrow on whether to ask the EU for a delay of Brexit, which is the only serious immediate option.

May sounded like she still hoped a version of her deal could go through, but she also asked MPs if they wanted to hold a second referendum, perhaps a sign that she is starting to come round to sharing The Scotsman’s view that this is the only way to break the impasse.

Brexit has proved far more difficult than anyone imagined three years ago. A second referendum is required to enable the UK, the EU and indeed the world to finally move on.</s>LONDON, March 14 (Reuters) - British lawmakers are voting on Thursday on a government proposal setting out what Prime Minister Theresa May says are the options on how long to delay Brexit.

Below are the results so far:

Led by Independent Group lawmaker Sarah Wollaston, this amendment would have instructed the government to request a delay to Brexit to allow time to hold a second referendum.

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 - REJECTED 314 to 312

Led by lawmaker Hilary Benn, a cross-party group put forward a proposal which would have taken control of the parliamentary agenda on March 20 with the aim of forcing a discussion of Brexit options at a later date.

This would have aimed at trying to find a majority for an alternative Brexit path that would break the parliamentary deadlock.

Jeremy Corbyn's opposition Labour Party submitted an amendment calling for May to use a Brexit delay to give parliament time "to find a majority for a different approach".

This amendment, submitted by Labour lawmaker Chris Bryant, sought 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.

STILL TO COME:

This will form the basis of the debate and says three things:

1) Notes parliament has rejected May's deal and a no-deal scenario, and agrees the government will seek an extension to the Brexit negotiating period, which currently ends on March 29.

2) Parliament agrees that if lawmakers approve a divorce deal by March 20, the government will seek to agree "a one-off extension" until June 30 to pass legislation needed to smooth Britain's departure from the EU.

3) Parliament notes if it has not approved a divorce deal by March 20, then it is "highly likely that the European Council at its meeting the following day would require a clear purpose for any extension, not least to determine its length, and that any extension beyond 30 June 2019 would require the United Kingdom to hold European Parliament elections in May 2019". (Reporting by William James and Andrew MacAskill; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
The UK's parliament votes against a no-deal Brexit. This greatly increases the chance of a delayed Brexit, to be voted on Thursday, as well as opening the door to the possibility of a second referendum.