British lawmakers to hold no-confidence vote

UPDATE: Theresa May will remain the British prime minister after a no-confidence vote failed in Parliament on Wednesday. Now she must head back to the negotiating table to work on a plan for Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, a challenge that has vexed the government for months. Though many members of her Conservative Party voted against her Brexit proposal, May won the no-confidence vote by a count of 325-306. Her defeat would have triggered general elections that would have put Conservative control of the government at risk. After winning the vote, May said she would hold talks “in a constructive spirit” with leaders of opposition parties and other lawmakers, starting immediately, to try to find a way forward for Brexit.

OUR EARLIER REPORT (12:07 p.m.): The British Parliament will hold a vote of no-confidence in Prime Minister Theresa May’s government on Wednesday after overwhelmingly rejecting her Brexit deal on Tuesday. During a debate ahead of the no-confidence vote, opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn called on May to resign: “If a government cannot get its legislation through Parliament, it must go to the country for a new mandate.”

The House of Commons on Tuesday voted 432-202 against May’s plan for withdrawing from the European Union. If May loses the vote Wednesday, her government will have only two weeks to either win back majority support in Parliament or face an early election. If she wins, she has until Monday to return to lawmakers with a revised Brexit deal. With the split from the EU slated for March 29, the government has only a few options: Britain could leave the EU without a concrete plan, extend the deadline for the departure, or make significant changes to the deal and hope it wins approval.