17 Jul 2018

May’s Brexit plan on knife-edge as defeat avoided by 6 votes

Political Editor

The government has just won a narrow victory in the House of Commons, defeating an attempt by pro-Remain Conservative MPs to force it to stick closely to the EU for trade in goods after Brexit.

The government has just won a narrow victory in the House of Commons, defeating an attempt by pro-Remain Conservative MPs to force it to stick closely to the EU for trade in goods after Brexit.

The amendment to the trade bill was the latest skirmish in the bitter Brexit wars that are being fought across the Conservative benches.

Some now fear that the splits mean the Commons will struggle to find a majority to support any Brexit policy that Theresa May brings forward. Are we heading to a no-deal scenario? We talk to David Davis, who resigned from the cabinet over the Prime Minister’s Chequers blueprint, Tory Remainer Antoinette Sandbach, and Tory Brexiteer Desmond Swayne.