An eventful two days in the U.K. Parliament ended Wednesday night with back-to-back defeats for Boris Johnson, with the prime minister failing to garner enough support to call for a snap election in October. The government fell short of the 434 votes it needed, as the majority of the opposition didn’t even show up for the count. Johnson is hoping to revive a lost Conservative majority that could help him push his Brexit plans forward.
Earlier in the day, U.K. lawmakers once again prevented the country from crashing out of the European Union without an agreement—at least for now. The House of Commons passed a bill that could force the prime minister to ask the EU for another three-month extension to negotiate an agreement. After a 328 to 301 vote on Tuesday that put “Benn Bill” on the debate floor, the government extended its losses as more Conservative MP’s sided against the government this time around.
See how individual members of Parliament voted to block a no-deal Brexit and for calling a snap election.
The bill demands the government to either agree with the EU on a deal the Parliament will approve by October 19, or secure Parliament’s agreement for a no-deal exit by the same deadline. If the government fails to meet one of the two conditions, the prime minister will have to ask the EU for an extension until January 31, 2020.
Confusion arose during the vote, when the Parliament approved an amendment to the bill that could bring Theresa May’s deal back from the dead. Under the amendment introduced by MP Stephen Kinnock the prime minister should use any Brexit extension in order—at least in part—to try to pass the May deal the Parliament has already rejected three times. The amendment passed as the Government did not provide any tellers to count the no votes.
Brexit now heads once more into uncharted territory, just as Parliament is due to be suspended for most of the next eight weeks. And with the Conservatives having lost their operating parliamentary majority and Labour dodging a general election—at least until today’s no-deal Brexit bill becomes law—another stalemate looms over the horizon.