LONDON — After an embarrassing setback in Parliament, Prime Minister Theresa May was touring European capitals on Tuesday, meeting with leaders and looking for some way to shore up support back home for her agreement on Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union.

British lawmakers had been scheduled to vote on the agreement on Tuesday, but after a debate in which it came under attack not only from the opposition but also from many members of her own Conservative Party, Mrs. May delayed the vote on Monday, acknowledging that her plans had faced defeat “by a significant margin.”

Her retreat undermined the tenuous hold on power by a prime minister whose opponents, both inside and outside her party, have been speaking openly about trying to topple her. It also left Britain’s exit from the European Union, or Brexit, in limbo, with lawmakers and analysts alike saying it was anyone’s guess what would happen next.

On Tuesday afternoon, Parliament is to hold an emergency debate on the postponement of the vote, called by Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party — essentially a chance for lawmakers to vent their discontent.</s>Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Theresa May announces Tuesday's planned Brexit deal will not go ahead: "I've listened very carefully"

Prime Minister Theresa May has called off Tuesday's crucial vote on her Brexit deal so she can go back to Brussels and ask for changes to it.

As it stands the deal "would be rejected by a significant margin" if MPs voted on it, she admitted.

But she said she was confident of getting "reassurances" from the EU on the Northern Ireland border plan.

But European Council President Donald Tusk said the remaining 27 EU countries would not "renegotiate" the deal.

While EU leaders would be willing to "discuss how to facilitate UK ratification" of the withdrawal agreement at Thursday's summit in Brussels, he suggested the controversial Northern Irish backstop, which the DUP and many Tories want removed, would remain in place.

The prime minister's U-turn came after she and senior ministers had spent days insisting the vote would go ahead, despite the scale of opposition from MPs being obvious.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption How the mace drama unfolded

It prompted angry scenes in the Commons, with MPs from all sides complaining that the government had denied them the right to have any say in the move.

Labour's Jeremy Corbyn, who accused Mrs May of "losing control of events" and "disregarding" MPs, was granted an emergency debate in the Commons on Tuesday while Commons Speaker John Bercow said the government's handling of the issue had been "regrettable".

And Lloyd Russell-Moyle, the Labour MP for Brighton Kemptown, was expelled from the Commons after grabbing the ceremonial mace and trying to take it out of the chamber.

He was stopped by an officer of the House who returned it to its place on the table.

In other Brexit developments

Any indication of a new timeline for vote?

Theresa May refused to say when the Commons vote on her deal would now be held - saying it would depend how long fresh talks with the EU last.

Some MPs called for it to come back to the Commons before Christmas, but Mrs May would only say the final deadline for the vote was 21 January.

She said the the UK's departure date from the EU - 29 March next year - was written into law and the government was "committed" to delivering on it.

Conservative Remainer Justine Greening said she hoped the PM would not wait until 28 March before holding the vote.

Will Labour now table a vote of no confidence in the PM?

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Jeremy Corbyn says the government has "lost control" and was in "complete disarray".

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had been hoping to force a general election if Mrs May had lost Tuesday's planned vote, by tabling a vote of no confidence.

In his reaction to Mrs May's announcement that the vote would be delayed, he urged the PM to stand down because her government was now in "chaos".

But Labour has rejected calls from the SNP, the Lib Dems and some of its own MPs, to hold a vote of no confidence in the prime minister on Tuesday.

A Labour Party spokesperson said: "We will put down a motion of no confidence when we judge it most likely to be successful.

"It is clear to us that Theresa May will not renegotiate the deal when she goes to Brussels, and will only be asking for reassurances from EU leaders.

"When she brings the same deal back to the House of Commons without significant changes, others across the House will be faced with that reality.

"At that point, she will have decisively and unquestionably lost the confidence of Parliament on the most important issue facing the country, and Parliament will be more likely to bring about the general election our country needs to end this damaging deadlock."

What do critics not like about the deal?

Dozens of Conservative MPs had been planning to join forces with Labour, the SNP, the Lib Dems, Plaid Cymru and the DUP to vote down Mrs May's deal.

The Tory rebels and the DUP do not like the Northern Ireland "backstop", a legally-binding proposal for a customs arrangement with the EU, which would come into force if the two sides cannot agree a future relationship which avoids the return of a visible Northern Ireland border.

Tory MPs say it is unacceptable because it would result in new regulatory barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK and could continue indefinitely, because the UK would not be able to leave without the EU's approval.

How did Theresa May defend the delay?

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Theresa May asks MPs: ‘Does this House want to deliver Brexit?’

The prime minister vowed to put the deal to a vote but said there was no point at this stage because it would have been defeated.

She told MPs she would be speaking to EU leaders ahead of a summit later this week, about the "clear concerns" expressed by MPs about the backstop.

And she would also be "looking closely at new ways of empowering the House of Commons to ensure that any provision for a backstop has democratic legitimacy".

Mrs May wants to enable MPs to place obligations on the government "to ensure that the backstop cannot be in place indefinitely".

She again rejected all other alternatives that have been proposed to her deal - including a further referendum and leaving without a deal.

Her deal "gives us control of our borders, our money and our laws - it protects jobs, security and our Union", she said.

"It is the right deal for Britain. I am determined to do all I can to secure the reassurances this House requires, to get this deal over the line and deliver for the British people," she added.

Asked by Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable if EU leaders would be ready to ditch the backstop, she said they had shown they were aware of MPs' concerns that the backstop should be temporary.

"A number of European leaders I've spoken to have indicated that they are open to discussions to find a way to provide reassurance to members of this House on that point," she added.

Tory rebel and DUP reaction

Leading Conservative Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg said in a statement that Mrs May lacked the "gumption" to put her "undeliverable" deal before MPs.

"This is not governing, it risks putting Jeremy Corbyn into government by failing to deliver Brexit. We cannot continue like this. The prime minister must either govern or quit."

Mr Rees-Mogg is trying to get enough Tory MPs to submit letters of no confidence in the PM to trigger a leadership contest.

Graham Brady, who receives those letters as chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, said some MPs were angry and others were "fidgety" but many were glad not to be "going through the motions of a needless defeat".

"We've just seen the PM doing the right thing but also quite bravely standing up... and making her case to an angry opposition," he added.

The deputy leader of the DUP - the Northern Ireland party whose backing Theresa May needs to win key votes - Nigel Dodds, said the situation was "quite frankly a bit of a shambles" and the PM was paying the price for crossing her "red lines" when it came to Northern Ireland.

He told Mrs May: "Come back with the changes to the withdrawal agreement or it will be voted down."

DUP leader Arlene Foster said she had told the prime minister in a phone call that the "backstop must go".

What is the EU saying?

Theresa May's deal has been agreed with the EU - but it needs to be backed by the UK Parliament if it is to become law ahead of the UK's departure.

Mrs May has also been speaking to EU leaders about re-opening the withdrawal agreement, something both sides have previously ruled out.

European Commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva said the EU would not renegotiate the Withdrawal Agreement.

"As President Juncker said, this deal is the best and only deal possible," she said.

The BBC's Brussels reporter Adam Fleming said Mrs May was "trying get more legal oomph behind the language" in the withdrawal agreement about the EU using "best endeavours" to get a trade deal which would remove the need for the backstop to be used.</s>The BBC is reporting that Theresa May could be delaying a vital vote on the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement which is scheduled to take place tomorrow (December 11).

The Prime Minister is expected to give a speech outside Downing Street at 3.30pm today, where it is understood she will announce that tomorrow’s vote is being delayed.

That will be followed by a statement from Commons leader Andrea Leadsom - and then a statement from the Brexit secretary on Article 50.

Two cabinet sources have told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg Tuesday’s planned Brexit vote will be delayed.

There is not yet any official confirmation of the move, and Downing Street had been insisting the vote would go ahead despite Mrs May being widely expected to lose it.

But a third Cabinet source has told the BBC the vote is “definitely off”.

The vote, which is likely to not pass through parliament due to political divisions, would see MPs voting on Theresa May’s Brexit Withdrawal Agreement and whether the country should press ahead with Theresa May’s Brexit.</s>The UK can unilaterally revoke its withdrawal from the EU, the European Court of Justice has ruled.

A spokeswoman for the court said: "In today's judgment, the Full Court has ruled that, when a Member State has notified the European Council of its intention to withdraw from the European Union, as the UK has done, that Member State is free to revoke unilaterally that notification.

"That possibility exists for as long as a withdrawal agreement concluded between the EU and that Member State has not entered into force or, if no such agreement has been concluded, for as long as the two-year period from the date of the notification of the intention to withdraw from the EU, and any possible extension, has not expired."

The spokeswoman continued: "The revocation must be decided following a democratic process in accordance with national constitutional requirements. This unequivocal and unconditional decision must be communicated in writing to the European Council."

Monday's ruling upheld a finding by ECJ advocate general Manuel Campos Sanchez-Bordona, who said last week that Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty allows the "unilateral revocation of the notification of the intention to withdraw from the EU, until such time as the Withdrawal Agreement is formally concluded".

He rejected the contention that the mechanism for a member state to quit the trade bloc could only be reversed following a unanimous decision of the European Council.

It comes the day before Theresa May is due to attempt to get her Brexit Withdrawal Agreement through Parliament.

In Monday's ruling the judges ruled that a country's decision to revoke Article 50 after notifying the EU of its decision to withdraw "reflects a sovereign decision to retain its status as a Member State of the European Union, a status which is neither suspended nor altered by that notification", the spokeswoman added.</s>British Prime Minister Theresa May has postponed a vote in parliament on her plan for Britain's exit from the European Union, after it became clear her government was facing a massive defeat.

This was another tumultuous day in British politics. Parliament was headed toward a historic vote on a deal for Brexit tomorrow, but it faced almost certain defeat. So today, Prime Minister Theresa May pulled the plug.

PRIME MINISTER THERESA MAY: We will therefore defer the vote scheduled for tomorrow and not proceed to divide the House at this time.

SHAPIRO: That leaves the U.K. uncertain about how it will leave the European Union as the March 29 deadline for the country's exit draws closer. NPR London correspondent Frank Langfitt is with us again. Hi, Frank.

SHAPIRO: Rough day for the prime minister. She's been working on this deal to leave the EU for two years. Her ministers and she had been saying the vote would definitely take place tomorrow. How does she explain this about-face?

LANGFITT: Well, Ari, she said what everybody kind of knew, and that is she did not have the votes, which is an understatement. People thought she could've lost this by up to a hundred votes, which would put her - would've put her job in even more jeopardy than it already is. It's not clear when or if she can actually get the support she needs, and there's no new date for a vote. So things are really, really uncertain right now.

SHAPIRO: Where does this leave Prime Minister May's plan for exiting the European Union, a plan that had a lot of support from other European countries?

LANGFITT: Yeah, they signed off on it. She has said she's going to go back to the European Union to explain why members of Parliament don't like her deal, which, by the way - the EU knows all this. But the EU has said it's not going to reopen this agreement. So it puts certainly the prime minister in a very difficult position.

Donald Tusk - he's the president of the European Council. He said today, we are ready to discuss how to facilitate U.K. ratification. That could mean some reassuring language - but definitely not reopening this thing. We have less than four months to go before the U.K. leaves the EU, and it's not really clear how this is going to play out. This could go well past Christmas. We're just not sure.

SHAPIRO: Well, remind us what makes this deal so unpopular. Why do so many people in Parliament oppose it?

LANGFITT: Yeah, well, if the U.K. and the EU can't figure out a way to avoid building new customs posts on the island of Ireland, as we've discussed before, one scenario would have Northern Ireland ending up in a much closer customs arrangement with the European Union than with the United Kingdom. Of course the United Kingdom - Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom. And the U.K. wouldn't have any unilateral way to end this, so they're afraid that they could kind of get stuck in this arrangement for a long time.

Now, many British politicians understandably see this as undermining basically the union of the United Kingdom. Now, Nigel Dodds is a deputy leader of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party. This is what he had to say in the House of Commons today.

NIGEL DODDS: Does she not get it by now that the withdrawal agreement legally binding text is unacceptable to this House? And she cannot pretend going on defending the deal when she knows that if the vote had taken tomorrow, it would've been overwhelmingly defeated.

SHAPIRO: So, Frank, explain what options Theresa May has now. It seems unlikely that she can get the support to pass this deal, and the EU says they're not open to negotiating a different deal. What can she do?

LANGFITT: A lot of people think that she's playing for time. I was talking to Anand Menon, and he's professor of European politics at King's College in London. And he thinks what she's going to do is go back to Brussels and get the EU basically to spell out that they won't give a better deal to any different prime minister, and that could help her fend off her many potential challengers. And then what she might do is turn around and pressure members of Parliament and basically say, you know, if you don't take this deal, my deal, you risk leaving the EU with no deal at all, leading to an economic calamity. And here's what Anand Menon said.

ANAND MENON: If she decides that actually we're not going to have this vote until January, that really does increase the pressure because we're getting to the point at which no deal is looking increasingly likely just by mistake because we're getting so close to that legal date of the 29th of March. At that point, it will be this deal or no deal.

SHAPIRO: Just briefly, Frank, how much of a threat is this to Prime Minister May's leadership?

LANGFITT: It's tough. Brexiteers in her own party have been threatening for months to challenge her. Labour has also threatened, but it says it's not going to call a no-confidence vote unless it knows it has a good chance of winning, which it doesn't at the moment.

LANGFITT: Happy to do it, Ari.</s>British Prime Minister Theresa May says Parliament vote on Brexit deal scheduled for Tuesday will be delayed

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Theresa May says Parliament vote on Brexit deal scheduled for Tuesday will be delayed.</s>Following months of political wrangling, MPs will finally decide whether or not to approve Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit plan in what has been called the “meaningful vote”. Mrs May has so far failed to convince large members of politicians, including Conservative Party members, of her vision for the EU Withdrawal Agreement The stakes for tomorrow’s vote were raised further after a European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling this morning said the UK can now cancel Brexit without requiring permission from the rest of the European Union (EU). A 27-judge panel ruled shortly after 8am: “The United Kingdom is free to revoke unilaterally the notification of its intention to withdraw from the EU."

This means if politicians reject Mrs May’s deal tomorrow, Labour could try to push for a general election or a second referendum on Brexit. What time is Brexit vote on 11th December 2018? Six amendments on Brexit are scheduled to start at 7pm on Tuesday, December 11, with the "meaningful vote" following. A House of Commons spokesman told Express.co.uk a result on the “meaningful vote” on Brexit could be expected at about 8.30pm. The vote is the common name given to Section 13 of the UK’s European Union Withdrawal Act 2018, which puts into law that the deal must be approved first by Parliament. READ MORE: BREXIT LIVE: HOW THERESA MAY COULD BE SAVED FROM DISASTER BY BENN’S NO-DEAL AMENDMENT

If the vote is passed, the draft deal will still need to be put to the House of Lords for approval. But if MPs go against it, the government will get a second chance to try to push it through a few days later. Labour has already said it opposes Mrs May’s deal and is likely to call a general election straight away. They will need the support of 100 opposition members to do so - a difficult proposition.

A second referendum is much more likely although Brexiteers are hugely opposed to this being put on the table. Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt earlier warned British lawmakers there would be “real risks” if they vote down Theresa May’s deal tomorrow. Although he said Mrs May was not happy with all the conditions, including the controversial backstop arrangement, it remained the only viable option. Mr Hunt said: “(But) it gives the vast majority of things that people voted for and there are real risks if we don't grab this opportunity while we have it.”</s>LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Theresa May says Parliament vote on Brexit deal scheduled for Tuesday will be delayed.</s>
• Theresa May wants the EU to sign a declaration on the Brexit backstop to reassure angry MPs in Westminster.
• The prime minister is set to ask Brussels to make a strong commitment to avoiding the backstop coming into effect.
• On Tuesday the government was accused of planning this statement, or addendum, weeks before the meaningful vote debate got underway.
• A Cabinet source told Business Insider that May’s government discussed an addendum last month.
• The prime minister allegedly promised to add an addendum to the Brexit deal to stop Cabinet Brexiteers resigning.
• A spokesperson for the prime minister said this was “not true.”

LONDON – Theresa May promised her Cabinet a new text on the Brexit backstop to accompany the Withdrawal Agreement weeks before the meaningful vote debate got underway, a Cabinet source has told Business Insider.

The prime minister is currently in talks with EU leaders in an attempt to secure what she described as “additional reassurance on the backstop,” expected to come in the form of an addendum to the Brexit withdrawal deal, confirming that the EU does not want to use the backstop and is committed to finding alternative arrangements.

The backstop is controversial in Westminster because it could keep the UK in a customs union with the EU indefinitely while Northern Ireland would stay in parts of the single market, creating new border checks with Great Britain.

The move to seek an addendum to accompany the Withdrawal Agreement comes after May pulled the House of Commons vote on the deal on Monday, saying that she had listened to MPs’ concerns about the backstop.

However, a Cabinet source told BI that Downing Street officials had in fact instructed civil servants to work on a draft addendum soon after Dominic Raab quit as Brexit Secretary last month, weeks before the meaningful vote debate.

Pro-Brexit ministers told May they’d stay in government if “she got changes to the political declaration to include putting other things on the table than the backstop, and the addendum to give us ways out of the backstop,” one Cabinet source told BI.

“They were then drafted by civil servants after [Dominic] Raab left,” they added.

This was in anticipation of a backlash from MPs and as a way of persuading pro-Brexit members of Cabinet – like Penny Mordaunt, Chris Grayling and Andrea Leadsom – to not resign from government.

A spokesperson for the prime minister described the claim as “not true” on Tuesday afternoon.

On Tuesday Labour MP Stephen Doughty accused the government of drafting a new text to accompany the Brexit deal “weeks before” the parliamentary debate on the meaningful vote started last week.

“Can he tell me, has any member of the Cabinet seen or discussed a draft of addendum that the prime minister is seeking at any point over the last few weeks before the prime minister decided to postpone the debate? Has any member of the cabinet seen or discussed it?” Doughty asked government minister David Lidington.

Lidington, May’s de facto deputy prime minister, did not deny Doughty’s accusation, telling him: “He will certainly understand that I am not going to discuss the cabinet discussions that take place within Cabinet meetings.”

Doughty, a supporter of the People’s Vote campaign, said the government is “treating Parliament and the people of this country with contempt, hiding the truth from them and attempting to force their Brexit withdrawal agreement on the country through backroom deals and behind-closed-doors horsetrading.”</s>It is meant to be a watershed week; the moment when Theresa May - after two years of negotiating in Brussels, Westminster and within her own cabinet - asks parliament to back her Brexit deal.

But with just 48 hours from the planned meaningful vote it is far from clear whether it will go ahead at all, in the face of what is looking like a catastrophic defeat that threatens to bring down her premiership - and her government too.

Senior sources have told me that the vote is going ahead "as it stands" but say in reality the prime minister and her chief whip haven't made the decision yet as to whether to postpone vote or not.

I'm told her inner circle are likely to make the final decision on Monday night after the fourth day of debate on her Brexit deal in the Commons.

There are various options that the prime minister's team are weighing up as we go into a critical week for Mrs May - and for the country too.

The first question they are surely asking is how big will the defeat be and what could then flow from a hundred-plus rebellion on the Tory benches?

A catastrophic defeat will undoubtedly plunge her premiership, already hanging by a thread, into a full-blown crisis.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn could seize on the mayhem and table a motion of no confidence in her government as early as Tuesday night.

It's hard to see how Labour could actually get such a vote across the line given it would rely on the DUP voting with republican Corbyn over unionist May.

But there is a very slim chance of a defeat - and that could bring about a Labour/SNP minority government by Christmas, although some Labour sources tell me its more likely that Mr Corbyn will table a censure motion instead.

This is designed to express in the strongest possible terms disapproval in the prime minister or in her government.

The DUP are far likelier to go for this - perhaps hoping to help oust Mrs May as Conservative leader - then move with Labour to bring the Tory government down.

A huge defeat could also, from her own party, precipitate a confidence vote in her leadership.

There has already been one failed coup in the last month, but some in the party feel that a resounding defeat on her landmark policy has to result in her departure as PM and would-be successors - Boris Johnson, Dominic Raab, Esther McVey - were lining up this weekend to offer their own Brexiteer pitch to the party as they circle the prime minister.

But Mrs May also has to consider what might happen with both her DUP and Brexiteer colleagues on Tuesday if she did - against the odds - win the vote, points out one senior source.

Brexiteers might be so furious that they'd trigger a confidence ballot anyway, while the DUP might be so furious that they do back Mr Corbyn to bring her down.

After all, her confidence and supply partners have made it clear they cannot support the government if the Brexit deal goes through as it stands. That means Mrs May must find more concessions if she wants to remain in No 10.

Which brings me neatly to No 10's Plan B. And that isn't whether to back a Norway style Brexit or pivoting to a second referendum - yet.

It is rather what Mrs May could try to do in the coming days to win over support for her deeply unpopular deal.

One option is - as her Brexiteers and the DUP keep telling her - to return to Brussels to seek more concessions.

A source tells me Mrs May could postpone the deal and return ahead of the European Council summit on Thursday for emergency talks with Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker.

"It's not impossible she will go early to try and negotiate ahead of the Council," said one figure, pointing out that colleagues who have publicly opposed the deal need something to help them climb back down the ladder

This could be a time limit on the backstop or a unilateral exit clause. Both will be supremely difficult to negotiate.

Another option might be to use parliamentary procedure to avoid a crushing defeat.

MPs will vote on up to six amendments to the meaningful vote before Mrs May's plan is voted on and a couple of them - if selected by the Speaker - could kill off the prime minister's motion.

The one to watch is an amendment laid by the chair of the Brexit select committee, Hilary Benn. He has drafted an amendment that blocks both a no-deal Brexit and kills off Mrs May's motion.

If passed, it would stop the meaningful vote even taking place and has the advantage of avoiding an enormous defeat, as it would be Remainers such as former attorney general Dominic Grieve who might vote for this rather than the Brexiteers.

The scale of her defeat could fall back from 100 plus to under 20.

But it does kill off her deal, which is something she will not want to happen.

With options like these, it might be better to press pause and there have been a couple of clues in the past week that No 10 is laying the ground for a dignified retreat.

One came on Thursday when the submarine-like Sir Graham Brady, chair of the powerful 1922 backbench committee, surfaced to urge the prime minister to delay the deal, saying "most of us would like to see an agreement being reached" but that this would require more time.

The other clue was the collapse of the much-vaunted TV debate between Mrs May and Mr Corbyn, originally scheduled for Sunday night.

Called off after the two party leaders disagreed on the format and channel for the head-to-head, it also means Mrs May hasn't nailed her colours to the mast with the public should she decide to pull the vote at the 11th hour.

There is perhaps one thing her team are sure of as they enter into uncharted political and constitutional waters this week - those around her remain convinced the prime minister will not resign, no matter what.

Of course, MPs may try this week to take that decision out of her hands, all the more reason to avoid a crushing - perhaps fatal - parliamentary defeat.
Prime Minister Theresa May announces the deferral of the meaningful vote on the UK's negotiated withdrawal agreement from the European Union that was scheduled for tomorrow.